


Between Worlds

by Griffalope



Category: Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi | Spirited Away
Genre: F/M, Slow Burn, no beta we die like men, the slowest of burns
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-14
Updated: 2020-10-07
Packaged: 2021-03-04 19:09:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 22,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25261375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Griffalope/pseuds/Griffalope
Summary: After moving to the little blue house at the end of the street, Chihiro is led by a gnawing sense of loss and Deja vu to a mysterious local shrine, and the secret it has protected for hundreds of years. When greed threatens to destroy everything she now holds dear, Chihiro must rediscover all that she's lost in order to save what she's found and, if she's lucky, herself.
Relationships: Haku | Nigihayami Kohakunushi/Ogino Chihiro
Comments: 27
Kudos: 48





	1. Preface

_Once you meet someone, you never really forget them. It just takes awhile for your memory to come back to you. ___

____

Chihiro awoke in a cold sweat, the tendrils of a dream seeping away from her. A young voice promising her something, a pale hand slipping away from her own. She grasped for it, palm reaching toward her white ceiling as if beckoning the fleeting images to return to her, but in an instant they had withered into nothing more than a damp patch beneath her neck and a vague sense of loss.

____

Slowly, reluctantly, she sat up in bed and squinted her eyes at the bright morning light streaming through her window. The young woman glanced involuntarily at the massive five needle pine with the small stone houses littering its base that marked the entrance to the dense forest at the bottom of the hill beside her house. She didn't know why it was always the first thing she looked at, why she felt compelled to check it every morning as if she expected someone to emerge from the woods the moment she laid eyes on the narrow dirt road winding into its depths. Nothing of any particular interest lay beyond it, she knew. She had checked hundreds of times.

____

As a child, she had been drawn to that innocuous path like a moth drawn to the destructive warmth of candlelight. She couldn't count how many times she got lost looking for who knows what among the trees and undergrowth, until her parents had banned her from entering altogether. But still she longed to wander into it, past the squat stone guarding the opening of a tunnel partially hidden by vines and towards….what?

____

There was nothing beyond that tunnel.

____

Nothing.

____

She didn't know why she should expect anything different, but she couldn't help but feel a crushing disappointment every time she'd emerged on the other side of the darkness to find only a small, dead meadow, and a pitiful dried up rock bed where a river had once flowed.

____

It had been years since the last time she had gone to that sad, empty place. But she still dreamed of it, along with bits and pieces of a strange and wondrous nightmare.

____

Sometimes she would come across something in her day to day life that would tickle her memory, slamming her with Deja vu so strong it would leave her gasping. A simple wooden bucket in the corner of her new school became filled with unfamiliar red and gold tokens. Wide eyes and small arms peeked out from beneath the coal inside her father's grill. Jade beads around her mother's neck transformed into haunting, glassy green eyes.

____

Everything had started right after they'd moved to the little blue house at the end of the street. Her mother and father refused to think of that time, the mysterious lost time which Chihiro privately dwelled on whenever her mind started to wander. Because, on the very day they were supposed to move, they'd walked through that tunnel in the forest, and came out three days later. At first, they had thought someone had played a vague practical joke on them, but it soon became clear that, somehow, during the five minutes they had explored the mysterious forest path, they had all been declared missing persons.

____

Part of the reason Chihiro's parents were so reticent about the issue was because of their daughter's own drastic change in personality during that time. Chihiro couldn't recognize the change in herself, she didn't feel any different, but according to her parents, she had quite suddenly become a humble, hardworking, brave, and unerringly polite child when it seemed only minutes before she had been quite the opposite. At first, her mother joked that her daughter had been abducted by aliens. But it wasn't until much later that Chihiro recognized the distant, unfamiliar glint in her mother's eyes when she did something out of character. Like Chihiro wasn't really her daughter.

____

But it wasn't only Chihiro who had changed. As her mother grew more distant and withdrawn, her father became brusque and angry. Disagreements broke out where there had never been any before. Always masking a tension that none of them could name, but was slowly tearing them apart at the seams. But strangely enough, all of them shared at least one thing.

____

The entire Ogino family suddenly couldn't stomach the taste of pork.

____


	2. The Deal

Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi had nearly given up. He had scoured the land for what must have been thousands of miles in every direction, but still he could not feel the call of his river. He longed to return to it, could feel the void left by it hollow in his stomach. But after five years of wandering the Spirit world, there was just nothing.

A primal rage filled him and he roared his anguish and rage into the night sky, causing every spirit nearby to flee or cower at the sound. He was a dragon! He had his name, but what did it matter without his essence, his very soul. He felt lost, and empty.

If it weren't for those _humans _,__ spreading hate and destruction wherever they went. Raping the land and taking whatever they pleased without thought of consequence. Humans had decimated him, plowing over his river so they could plant their toxic presence in the soil that he had once nourished. It made him sick to think of it. They were a disease, each and every one of them…

The image of a young girl appeared in his mind's eye; a round, innocent face and eyes that seemed to see through him.

Well, not all of them.

As the sun started to peek over the horizon, painting the sky in vibrant shades of red and gold, he descended toward a large thundering waterfall. The cave just behind it had become his temporary shelter for the last few years, somewhere to rest in between bouts of what seemed like endless, hopeless wandering.

It was not welcoming, nothing like the ornate painted screens and silk bed linens that he had become accustomed to at the bathhouse. Just damp rock and a few smaller creatures burrowed in the corners trying not to disturb the fearsome beast in their midst. He coiled his slender, serpentine body around his singular possession; a tiny, pink shoe.

He didn't know why he'd kept it all these years. The girl it belonged to came and went, and she no longer even remembered the little sneaker. Nor did she remember the dragon who guarded it. The Border Spell would've made sure of that. He knew that the spell was necessary in order for her to live safely in her world, but he still ached at the thought of her forgetting him.

He closed his eyes and thought of her, of tears dancing up into the sky and small fingers laced through his, and drifted off into a fitful sleep.

"So this is where you've been wasting away all this time Haku? Pathetic." A voice craigy with centuries of smoking disturbed the peace of the small cavern. Kohaku was instantly awake, and rounded on the unwelcome intruder with a vicious snarl. The speed of his movement and the force of his roar sent loose strands of the old woman's hair out of her manicured topknot and her gaudy dress whipping backwards. Her expression remained unperturbed, however, even when faced with a ferocious beast.

With a wave of her finger, her hair and clothes righted themselves. She walked calmly forward, forcing the dragon backwards.

"There's no need to be so testy, I didn't come all this way to fight you. Though you could do with a little discipline for your impolite greeting. Why don't you change into a more civilized form so we can have a discussion? I promise, you'll want to hear what I have to say."

The dragon stared at her for a moment, a deep, threatening growl reverberating around the small space. The old crone stared back.

Finally, the scaly hide melted away to reveal smooth white skin and perfectly neat dark green hair. Kohaku grimaced at the discomfort of his human avatar. It was like wearing a set of clothes that were slightly too small.

Yubaba cackled, her head thrust back far enough to see down her throat. The action reminded Kohaku of a crocodile lunging out of the water.

"Still a child Haku? Clearly you haven't reconnected with your river yet if you're still this miniscule."

Kohaku bristled, stamping down the urge to blast the foul troll out of his cave. She was right after all, and he was no match for her in this state.

"You _will_ address me by my proper name, since you no longer own it." He labored to keep his voice calm. Being near the woman who had stolen his identity and kept him prisoner for nearly a decade put him on edge.

"Apologies, _Kohaku_. Old habits die hard." Her voice was mocking.

Kohaku pinched the bridge of his nose to keep his patience. "What do you want Yubaba?"

The woman smiled. Not a nice smile, all bright teeth and sharp eyes, hiding hidden intentions.

"I've come to make you an offer."

Kohaku waited in suspicious silence for her to continue. She began to pace around him casually, but it felt more like being stalked by a predator.

"Things at the bathhouse haven't been the same since you left. Ever since that little brat was here, the staff have been getting a little too uppity. Asking for more pay and more time off and letting the business go to shambles. Ridiculous." She sniffed, "as if I haven't done them a favor, taking them in when they had nowhere else to go, ungrateful gits."

"Get to the point." The boy demanded.

"Come back to work for me."

"NO!" Kohaku instantly bared his teeth at the witch, magic sparking at the ends of his hair like static. He would never be able to defeat her without his river, she had taught him every spell he knew. But if she attacked him he might be able to distract her long enough to escape.

"Settle down and let me finish. You haven't even heard what I have to offer you in exchange."

With some effort, Kohaku managed to calm the instinctive rage and defiance that arose when he thought of becoming her slave again. Even though he had been lost and confused at the time, he was foolish and naive to seek out her mentorship, and it had cost him. He would never return to that, not for anything.

"Your river."

Kohaku was shocked into silence. His river. The pang of emptiness in his stomach that had nothing to do with hunger reared once again, and he was nearly brought to his knees by the pain. There was no way that Yubaba had managed to find what he had been searching for for nearly five years.

"You're lying." He accused her. She merely smirked at him and lit the end of her long ivory pipe. She took a long draw of it, taking her time, before blowing the smoke directly in his face. Kohaku continued to stare directly at her, refusing to be intimidated though the foul smell burned his eyes.

"You wan't proof? Fine. Nigihayami Kohaku Nushi, seventeen years ago you were bulldozed by humans, who redirected your water off it's natural course and erected apartment buildings on the land where you once flowed, consequently changing its position here in our world as well. The trauma of the event forced you, the spirit of the river to separate from the water or be lost along with it. You cannot find it now because the bulk of it flows in cave systems beneath the ground, a barrier between you and the water. Without the connection to your river, you lost all of the power afforded to you by being an elemental spirit, leaving you as nothing but a husk of your former self. Am I leaving anything out?"

Kohaku couldn't say anything. Only Chihiro and he knew the details of what happened to his river. He had told no one else.

"How do you know that?" He whispered. She chuckled, puffing out thick, bitter smoke into the small space.

She leaned in so he could see the honest glint in her eye as she said, "I didn't teach you all of my tricks."

Desperation seized him. Was he willing to give up his identity once again for the possibility of reuniting with his river?

"I have a condition." Kohaku told her. Yubaba smiled the way one can only when they know they've won.

"Name your price."

"No contract. I'll work for you, but I get to keep my name and my freedom."

Yubaba smiled the way a shark might at a baby seal.

"Deal."


	3. The Shrine

The house was silent as Chihiro wandered down the stairs towards the kitchen to get breakfast. She wasn't alone, she knew, but it tended to be this way whenever her father wasn't wrapped up in a sports game on TV. She never seemed to see her parents in the same room with each other anymore.

As expected, her mother was at the kitchen table, a book in her hands but staring absently out the window. The coffee cup beside her no longer had steam swirling up from the rim and the milk had separated.

"Morning mom!" Chihiro greeted her. Her mother jumped, fumbling her book, but turned to give her daughter a smile. It was warm, but her eyes remained glazed, as if they were still gazing despondently at the path at the bottom of the hill.

"Good morning Chihiro. Did you sleep well?"

"Chihiro opened the refrigerator and set about getting herself a bowl of cereal.

"Yeah," she lied. "How about you?"

"Oh it was fine. Just fine."

They lapsed into silence while Chihiro checked the messages on her phone. Three texts from Amaya about her wedding plans, one from Rumi about some funny viral video. She'd text them back later.

She gathered her breakfast and sat across the table from her mother, unconsciously tracing the familiar carvings in the edge of the solid wood table, same as she did every morning. The older woman said nothing more to her, eyes seemingly mesmerized by the way the lace curtains swayed in the late summer breeze. It wasn't uncomfortable, it had been this way for half her life, and Chihiro was used to the lack of connection already. She had always privately assumed that her mother may be depressed, but she had absolutely no idea how to approach that kind of subject with her. So she simply sat with her whenever time allowed, and hoped that her presence provided some kind of comfort. She much preferred the somewhat distant silence with her mother over the constant arguments she had with her father, anyway.

_Speak of the devil._ Chihiro tensed as her father shuffled into the kitchen, his hands stained with grease like he had been working outside on the car that never seemed to be done. She rushed to finish her cereal so she could get going and avoid the inevitable fight. Her father noticed her shoveling food into her face and scoffed.

"In a hurry to get to your little hobby? Maybe if you'd been so eager to go to school you could've been applying for internships this summer." He poked. Chihiro bristled. She knew he was just trying to get a rise out of her. If she could just keep her head down and not say anything, she might be able to get out of here relatively unscathed.

"Or if you couldn't manage that, you could've at least gotten married and had some kids by now. At least they might be able to contribute something to society, even if you can't."

_Don't say anything. Don't say anything. Don't say anything._

"But no, instead you choose to waste your life taking care of some god forsaken crumbling temple in the woods somewhere…"

"It's a shrine." she whispered finally, unable to help herself.

"What?" her father sneered. She put her bowl down and stood, meeting her father's eye in what she knew he would interpret as a challenge, something she rarely did nowadays. What was the point? He never listened to her anyway.

"That 'crumbling temple' is a beautiful five hundred year old shrine. And it makes me happy to work there." She told him as calmly as she could manage.

"Oh yeah? Does that happiness give you food on the table? A roof over your head? A pension when you get too old to sweep their miserable floors?" He boomed. "You are twenty years old Chihiro! Stop this childish nonsense and go back to college where you belong!"

It's not like Chihiro didn't know where her dad was coming from. Anyone would have looked at the path she had chosen and wondered at her logic. But she had been miserable in college. She had never felt comfortable in the social atmosphere, she couldn't find anything she was interested in studying, and it just felt all wrong.

Of course, this feeling wasn't something new. For years now she had felt this oppressive sense that she was somehow out of place. Not doing what she was supposed to be doing. Not where she was supposed to be.

The feeling had first come about, of course, right after they had all moved to a new city, right after the mysterious lost time. When everything had started. At first she had put it down to her unfamiliar surroundings, but it had refused to abate even after all these years of living here. At times it was like a physical sensation, like a fishing line attached to her navel, tugging at her gut. Every time she started to settle in, it would pull until she was nearly in tears.

The only time it would ever go away was at the shrine.

She remembered distinctly the first time she had ever wandered onto the grounds. The way she had suddenly felt lighter, more content, as if she were in the presence of a familiar old friend. The thought of going back to college, of losing that feeling, instantly filled her with revulsion.

"I would rather have my happiness than have money and be miserable like you!" That was the wrong thing to say, she realized belatedly, as her father's face went scarlet. He had never hit her before, but in that instant he stepped forward, eyes wild, she feared he might. She felt the slightest twinge of guilt for her harsh words but shook her head, unwilling to take them back.

"You ungrateful..." he paused as if no adjective could describe what he wanted to call her, "Your mother and I worked hard to give you every opportunity in this world, and you are pissing it away! Well not anymore! I refuse to support a delusional, petulant child! If you go to that shrine today, don't bother coming back!" He roared. Tears pooled in Chihiro's eyes. Sure, she and her parents had their differences, and their relationship was strained sometimes, but she had always liked to believe that they still loved her. She had never expected her father to cast her out of the house for wanting to pursue her passion.

She looked to her mother who was chewing on her lips, looking upset but unwilling to intervene. Did she feel the same? Yuko met her daughter's gaze, as if she wanted to say something, but her face crumpled and she quickly turned her face to her knees. Chihiro's heart broke a little. Her father was one thing, but she had couldn't believe her mother would reject her too.

"Fine then, if I'm such a disappointment to you both, maybe I _will_ leave!" She exclaimed angrily as she quickly pushed past her father toward the door. Her bag and shoes were already there, so she slipped them on and made her escape. She didn't want her parents to see her cry, to know just how badly their rejection hurt her.

"Chihiro…" her mother called hesitantly from behind her, but Chihiro couldn't face her now. Either of them. So she ran, out the door and down the street towards the woods.

"Where do you think you're going young lady? We're not finished yet!" Her father roared after her retreating figure. She didn't look back at him. Her breath came out in big, heaving sobs; her tears blurred her vision. It was pure muscle memory that led her to the comforting, protective canopy of leaves as she made her way up the now familiar mountain trail. It was a long, hard hike, the path uneven and cluttered with leaves that had just started to turn, and she tripped once or twice in her haste.

As she made her way closer to the top of the mountain, her crying slowly ceased, and her heart grew lighter. The sorrow and anxiety from that morning drained away and the ever present tugging in her stomach vanished. After two hours of trekking uphill, she finally caught sight of the vermilion _torii_ gate.

Her heart jumped with happiness. She took in a deep, contented breath as she passed beneath the old wood, watching the _shimenawa_ sway in the breeze. The sun finally broke through the morning mist, filtering through the leaves in a soft golden glow, as if welcoming her back. Then, there it was.

Chihiro immediately recalled when she had first laid eyes on the ancient shrine. It had been a particularly bad day at school, and she'd left early to venture down the forest path leading towards the tunnel she knew went nowhere. But she'd been crying, much like she had this morning, and at some point she'd made a wrong turn, and soon she'd found herself hopelessly lost in the woods. She spent hours wandering around until she finally stumbled upon a flight of stone steps leading upwards. She followed them and as she did, her tears dried and she gradually forgot why she had even been upset in the first place.

Seeing the shrine for the first time all those years ago was indescribable. Something just clicked into place, like a puzzle piece that had been lost between the cushions finally completing the picture. The shrine was nowhere near as grand as some she had been to before, in fact it was downright disheveled, but something about it was different. The air was somehow cleaner, the atmosphere practically sparkled. She had been so entranced by it that she sat down on the veranda to take it all in.

That's where the old priest found her the next morning, curled up and sleeping soundly in front of the _honden_ like a babe in a crib. He escorted her back down the mountain, where her mother was in a fit of panic and about to file a missing persons report with the police. It was the most emotion her mother had shown in years.

She was, of course, punished severely for not returning home that night. But that hadn't stopped her from returning at every opportunity, rain or shine. That was eight years ago.

Chihiro stopped at the _chozuya_ to wash her swollen face and hands before making her way into the small administrative building. Inside they kept the good luck charms, talismans, fortune telling papers, and trinkets for shrine patrons, most of which were gathering dust. The shrine had very few patrons to give them to.

Tamayama no Eihei was a _kami_ with a mysterious history, and the story of the shrine's construction was lost to age, but once upon a time everyone on the mountain used to come to worship there for prosperity and protection. But as fewer and fewer people relied on the mountain for their livelihood, less were willing to make the arduous hike. The shrine was out of the way, and hard to get to. Most were content to go to the bigger, more well known shrines than worship a rural, local mountain deity. The once grand buildings had fallen into disrepair, and only a few people remained to take care of the crumbling remnants and pass on centuries of tradition. The old priest, Chihiro, the priest's grandson Kouji who comes around on school breaks, and Hinata, a highschooler who only helps out on weekend evenings and holidays.

The young woman opened the chest in the small auxiliary room behind the office and pulled out a pair of clean, pressed scarlet _hakama_ and white _kosode_. She changed quickly, taking care to neatly braid her waist length brown hair with the sparkly purple hairband she'd had since she was a child. She didn't remember where she got it, but it was her favorite. She almost never took it off.

Chihiro rarely took the time to make herself look nice. What was the point, really? It's not like she was trying to impress anyone. But the ancient traditional uniform deserved respect, and the young woman tried to do it justice while she was at work.

The old priest, Shirushi Ito, was much too old to do most of the labor intensive chores, and mostly spent his days bookkeeping and doing spiritual work for the shrine like prayers and rituals. He was also the only one permitted inside the _honden_. That left Chihiro to do most of the cleaning and repair work, along with giving out talismans and such to patrons. She did, what she assumed, was the duty of most shrine maidens, just more of it.

She began her day by sweeping the courtyard, then washing the veranda. She drained and refilled the _chozuya_ with water from the well, and spent a good deal of time cleaning the supplementary shrines at the back of the complex. And then came the big project of the day, replacing the broken roof tiles. There was a bad leak in the _haiden_ that had been covered by a blue tarp for months, and Chihiro had just managed to scrounge up enough money to fix it.

Chihiro tied up her sleeves and climbed the old wooden ladder to the top of the building with the sack of ceramic tiles and equipment strapped to her back. It shook and bent under her weight, and the creaking made her nervous. Luckily she made it to the top without any of the spectacularly clumsy mishaps that seemed to plague her constantly.

_Don't spaz out now, or they'll be scraping you off the cobblestone._

She flung the blue tarp to the ground and groaned at the sight of the hole in the roof. The wood was rotting and nearly all of the tiles were broken or missing entirely. But if she didn't do it, no one would. So she popped her knuckles and got to work. Three hours later she was sweating profusely and thoroughly wishing she'd done this sooner. She straightened her back and winced as each individual vertebrae cracked on the way up.

_"Geez, Sen, haven't you ever done a day of work in your life?"_

Chihiro gasped and stumbled at the sound of the amused female voice in her ear, just managing to catch herself before she could go tumbling off the roof. She looked around, bewildered, for where it could have possibly come from. It had sounded so close, like it was right beside her.

But there was nothing, just that disorienting feeling like she was forgetting something. Another case of that mysterious Deja vu. But as she listened she just barely caught the sound of low voices coming from the back of the building. Chihiro bit her lip. It couldn't hurt to check…

Chihiro carefully climbed up the slope of the roof towards the great wooden support beam at the apex. She crouched behind it, listening to the group of male voices below her.

"Come now, Shirushi-san! Surely you know why we've come?" an unfamiliar man spoke, so quietly that Chihiro almost couldn't hear. The young woman immediately bristled at the disrespectful way he addressed the head priest of the shrine. She peeked out over the top just enough that she could see the uninvited guests.

Her mentor, Ito-sama, sat serenely on the veranda in front of the _honden_ , clearly having just finished his daily rituals. A cup of steaming tea rested in his cupped palms, the liquid inside utterly still. His back was bent with age, but his gaze was clear, assessing the visitors with a sharp eye.

A stout middle aged man with a wispy, thin mustache and a bald spot stood before him. He was accompanied by a broad-faced, bulky young man with greasy hair and crooked teeth who couldn't have been much older than Chihiro. They were both wearing very expensive looking suits, with nice leather shoes that didn't look as if they'd climbed the mountain to be there. The young woman immediately noticed that Ito-sama had not invited the men to sit, which she could only assume meant that they were not welcome.

The stout man had a smarmy, insincere smile on his face, the kind someone might use when asking a favor from someone they hated. Her mentor scowled at them and set down his cup of tea.

"I assure you that I remain willfully ignorant of the matter to which you are referring, Sagi-san, and shall remain so for the remainder of my life, if the gods have any mercy on my old soul." Her mentor's voice rang out clear as a bell, not even the slightest hint of the warbling weakness that usually accompanies an elderly person.

"Be reasonable! At least hear our proposal before you dismiss us! It would be in your best interest…" The pleading stranger took on an obsequious tone that immediately curled Chihiro's lips. He sounded like one of those pushy door-to-door salespeople that tried to force you to buy subscriptions and stuck their foot in the door when you refused.

"I assure you, sir, that nothing you'll say will convince me to sell you the land that this shrine sits on. It has been here for five hundred years, and as long as a priest attends it, it will stand for five hundred more." The older man said. Chihiro stifled a sharp inhale. Sell the shrine?! Why had she never heard of this before?

The second stranger scoffed at the priest. "This decrepit place doesn't even have any visitors. It'll collapse before you die, old man, and then you'll wish you'd listened to us."

"Hush, Kousuke!" the first man reprimanded sternly with a smack upside the young man's head.

"I apologize for my son's rudeness, Shirushi-san, he still has much to learn about business. Speaking of which, I'm sure you know what this is?" The older man said as he held up a dull green rock. It didn't look like anything special from where Chihiro was sitting.

"A pebble." Ito-sama replied dryly, clearly agreeing with her.

The bald man gave a strained laugh, clearly losing patience with the older man's attitude. "This is a piece of raw jadeite that was found in this vicinity, and we have reason to believe that there is more of it located in this section of the mountain. Beneath this very spot, to be more specific. A huge deposit, worth millions. If I may speak plainly Shirushi-san, this would be a very lucrative investment for you."

"I have lived and cared for this mountain since before you were born. If you believe that the prospect of monetary gain will convince me to abandon my life's work, then you are sorely mistaken."

For just a moment, the smarmy smile slipped off the middle aged man's face, allowing Chihiro to glimpse the rage and frustration simmering just under the surface. Knowing her mentor, he would have caught it as well.

"Is there nothing I can offer to persuade you then? Surely there must be something, just name it! I am a very well connected man." His veneer was thinning, allowing his irritation to seep through the words. Her mentor merely closed his eyes, silently dismissing him.

"The only thing I desire is to live out the remainder of my life peacefully in my home. I will not see this land destroyed, not while I draw breath. Now, kindly take your leave, and return only if you are to pay your respects to Tamayama no Eihei."

The balding man seethed, recognizing the dismissive tone, but said nothing. His son, however, had far less control over his emotions. He sneered, wide and ugly, and Chihiro grimaced at the state of his yellowed coffee stained teeth. She could practically smell his breath from atop the roof.

"Listen you pompous geezer! You don't even know who you're messing with! I wouldn't want to get on our bad side if I were you. We're gonna..."

His father turned his livid face to his son, who immediately cowered under the force of his glare.

"Hold your tongue, boy! Shirushi-san I can see that you're not very receptive to the idea right now. We are leaving, but make no mistake, we will be back. I do urge you to reconsider, while you still have the chance. Good day." And with that, the two strangers bowed and started making their way towards the shrine gates.

As they made their way around the building she sat on, she caught a bit of their whispered conversation.

"..should have threatened him! He doesn't stand a chance against us!" The bulky young man argued quietly.

"I know that, you stupid boy. But we must not arouse suspicion. We may not have been able to acquire the land through conventional methods, but there are other ways to achieve our goals. He will win who, prepared himself, waits to take the enemy unprepared."

Chihiro immediately recognized the passage from Sun Tzu's _The Art of War_. She had practically memorized the text under Ito-sama's instruction, it was one of his favorites. It put her on edge, as that clearly distinguished these two suspicious strangers as enemy forces. She watched them make their way down the long stone path towards the _torii_ gate. Even after they had left her sight she still stared, wondering.

"Chihiro, how long are you going to keep spying up there?"

She nearly fell off the roof at the sound of her mentor's voice. Caught red handed, she flushed and popped her head over the center beam. Her mentor had not moved from his position on the veranda, gazing up at Chihiro with a calm, disapproving expression.

_How did he see me from there?!_

"Sorry, Ito-sama, I was just fixing up the roof and, well, I couldn't help myself." She explained sheepishly, her voice raised so that the old man didn't have to strain to hear her. He sighed and shook his head before laboring to his feet with some effort. He grabbed his cane and started walking towards the _kagura-den_ with the waddling shuffle of a man approaching his mid eighties.

"At least have the decency not to get caught next time. I thought I taught you better. Come, those imbeciles have made us late for practice."


	4. The Cat

"Again!" Ito-sama shouted as she moved her foot an inch to the right of where it was supposed to be. Sweat dripped from her temples from the exertion, but she hardly noticed. Her focus was zeroed in on the beat of the drum, the fluid melody of the flute guiding her movements smoothly between every form. Bells rang high and clear between each set with a precise flick of her wrist.

She finished the dance, head bowed in respect.

"Almost perfect," Ito-sama praised as he switched off the ancient boombox playing the traditional music, "I think we can stop for today."

"Wait! I think if I could do it one more time I could get it perfect!" Chihiro argued.

"Don't listen to him Chihiro, he's just some crotchety old man." A high male voice echoed from the doorway. Chihiro jumped at the unexpected noise, and whipped towards the shoji doors which had slid open without her noticing. Shirushi Kouji, Ito-sama's grandson, stood in the doorway, a duffel bag slung over his shoulder. The priest threw his sandal at him, yelling about respecting elders, but he dodged without much trouble.

"Kouji!" Chihiro exclaimed, ecstatic. She skipped over to him and leaped into his arms. He caught her mid air and swung her around in a circle before placing her gently back down onto the wood floor. It was then that Chihiro noticed that Kouji was actually standing on the ground _outside._

"Wow Kouji you've sure had a growth spurt since I saw you last time! I think you're a full two heads taller than me now. And you've bulked up too!" The young woman noted. Six months ago the young man had been only a few inches taller than her, with knobbly elbows, shaggy black hair, and acne on the cheeks. Now he was hardly recognizable. He'd finally tamed his curly hair into a more manageable crew cut, his lanky frame had filled out into a fuller, more athletic build, and he'd switched his clunky black plastic glasses to more stylish wire frames.

He blushed under her scrutiny and rubbed his neck, looking over her head.

"I ugh...got a gym membership." He admitted sheepishly.

"I'm glad college has treated you so well! Usually people let themselves go when they start their freshman year, I know I did."

"No! You looked...look very...ugh...healthy." he stumbled, the blush creeping up from the collar of his shirt. Ito-sama coughed suspiciously in the corner and Kouji threw him a dirty look. Chihiro paid them no mind, they'd always had a close but sort of love/hate relationship, she didn't try to keep up with them.

"That's nice of you to say Kouji. We weren't expecting you for another week, won't your parents be missing you?" She asked, sparing him.

The young man breathed a sigh of relief that the topic had moved on. "Oh no, they're on their twenty year anniversary cruise. They've been gone all summer break. Besides, Gramps wanted to bring me here early for some reason. Wants to show me something I guess."

Chihiro lit up. She had known Kouji since he was twelve and his parents started going away for work. He would stay at the shrine for a few weeks at a time, helping his grandfather. By that point, Chihiro was fourteen and already serving as a _miko_. He used to trail around after her while she did her duties, chatting all the way. He was so adorable then.

"It's something I want to show both of you actually." Ito-sama interjected. Chihiro and Kouji shared a wary look. The last time he had said that, he'd practically killed them with an intensive boot camp on the shrine's various sacred dances. Chihiro had been sore for two months straight.

"Oh my, would you look at the time! I'd better go and do that...thing…" Kouji exclaimed as he examined an invisible watch on his wrist, thinking along the same lines as Chihiro. He hefted his bag onto his shoulder and tried to make a hasty retreat, but before he could take two steps, his grandfather had hooked the crook of his cane around his ankle and pulled. Kouji face planted into the ground with an unmanly squeal.

"Pfft!" Chihiro's eyes bugged and she clamped her hand over her mouth to keep the laughter from escaping.

Kouji sprang up, clutching his nose and nursing his wounded pride. "That hurt old man! You could have broken my nose!"

The priest didn't even flinch. "You could have looked where you were going." His expression remained stern, but his eyes twinkled with amusement. "Now, why don't you both follow me."

Chihiro coughed to disguise her amusement. Kouji blushed and looked away from her, mumbling something under his breath. They both followed after the old man, idly chatting about Kouji's classes at college. Apparently he had chosen Anthropology as his major, confirming Chihiro's belief that he was being groomed to take over the priest's position.

They stopped in front of the building at the very back of the complex, the only space she had never been allowed to enter, the _honden._ She and Kouji stopped in front of it, giving each other matching looks of surprise. Chihiro's stomach gave a weak tug in the small building's direction, as it always did whenever she looked at it. The old priest paid their hesitation no heed, and stepped up onto the veranda.

"Uh...Gramps? Aren't we not allowed in there?" Kouji asked. The old man turned to him with a look that said, 'why is my grandson an idiot?'. He sighed and stood before us, tapping his cane against the floor. He sized the too young people up, and they found themselves standing straighter under his scrutiny. Even at 80 years old, the priest still managed to be intimidating.

"I am an old man. I will not always be around to tend to this place's needs. Before I go, I must be certain that all of the rituals and traditions of this shrine are passed onto the next generation. I have taught you both everything I know, and you have accepted the burden of 500 years of history with exceptional zeal. Now there is but one thing I have left to show you." His stern expression softened, his wrinkled lips lifting at the corners. "And don't think I'm not aware of how curious you two are about what's in here. If you don't hurry up I might rethink letting the two of you see."

'Don't need to tell me twice!" Kouji exclaimed, throwing off his shoes and leaping onto the shiny wood without another thought. Chihiro laughed, and prepared to do the same, but a strange fear suddenly overcame her. It was as if she had one foot hovering over a precipice, and she was about to leap headlong into the abyss. What was wrong with her? She had always wanted to sneak a peek inside the private sanctuary of the god of the shrine. It had called to her since the moment she had laid eyes on it. So why did she suddenly feel so scared?

Ito-sama slid open the sliding door, revealing the solid wall of darkness between her and the mysterious contents. It beckoned to her, whispering at her to go inside, like a siren luring a sailor into the sea. She shook her head, trying to dissipate the irrational feelings. She stepped up onto the veranda, and followed the two men inside. On the table next to the door was a box of long matches, which Ito-sama used to light a lantern. Unlike the rest of the shrine, this building had no electricity.

The lantern carved into the darkness, revealing a small entry room with various trunks, drawers and boxes along the walls. Chihiro recognized the sacred _Mikoshi_ in the corner. But most eye-catching was a massive mural painted on the wooden door to the inner sanctuary. Even the faded colors could not detract from its beauty. A sweeping mountain landscape overlooking a verdant valley was rendered in a delicate hand. Chihiro, to her astonishment, recognized the massive five needle pine that marked the entrance to the mountain path. She looked at it every morning from her bedroom window. Upon it was a large orange cat, its piercing yellow eyes looked straight ahead, as if it were staring them down.

The priest took a large cast iron key from his pocket, and with an ominous click, opened the painted door. He led the two inside, Kouji practically bouncing on his heels. The lantern cast long eerie shadows across the glossy wooden floor. Long paper scrolls yellowed with age were hung on every wall, the calligraphy almost too old and elaborate to read. In the center was a pedestal surrounded by fresh mountain flowers and incense, its black lacquer and gold trim gleaming dully in the warm light. Atop it was a richly embroidered red silk runner, on which were two sake cups.

At the center of it all was the _go-shintai_ , the object in which it was said the god of this mountain, Tamayama no Eihei, resided. It was a small stone statue in the shape of a cat. It was not the cheerful lucky cat that was often displayed in store windows, one paw raised to beckon customers inside. No, this image was far older. It's stone body was crouched in an aggressive posture, ready to pounce, its mouth open in a hiss Chihiro could almost hear in the still air. Around its neck was a string of luminous jade beads, so clear they seemed to absorb the light of the flame. The statue was no larger than a foot tall, but its presence seemed to consume the entire room.

Chihiro was captivated by it. The tugging in her stomach became almost painful, practically dragging her toward the innocuous object.

" _That's right, go closer."_ A whisper of a voice drifted past her ears. She nodded absently. Closer. She stepped forward.

"This is our esteemed kami, Tamayama no Eihei. Bow in his presence." Ito-sama said, his clear voice echoing in the empty room.

Whatever hold the little statue had on her broke, leaving her dazed and confused. She looked toward her companions, who continued to speak as if nothing had changed. Hadn't they felt that sensation? Hadn't they heard the whisper?

There she went, imagining things again. She had to get herself under control! That was twice in one day already.

 _I should really start looking into some good, quality therapy._ She thought.

She bowed to the figurine, somehow feeling as if it were smaller than it had been.

"It is the duty of the head priest or priestess to care for the inner sanctuary, and there are certain rituals that must be carried out without fail." Ito-sama continued, "It must be cleaned regularly, and one incense stick burned at dawn and dusk. I will also teach you the prayers that must be carried out daily."

Kouji raised his hand as if he were in school. Ito-sama regarded his grandson humorlessly. "What is it?"

"What's up with the sake glasses?" He asked eagerly, face shining with interest, the spirit of the Anthropology Major emerging. His grandfather gave him his characteristically unenthused look.

"Once a month on the full moon, and on festival days, you will pour both you and our god a libation to enjoy together."

"...but it's not like he can actually drink it, right? Wouldn't the sake just sit in that cup until the next time you poured it for him?"

Ito-sama's lips stretched into a slow, secretive smile. "I have never found it full the next morning."

Kouji's eyes lit with curiosity, but Chihiro's mind had wandered off. This was clearly something that her mentor had been doing for decades. Why had he suddenly decided to share it with them? Kouji was still in school, and Chihiro did not stand to inherit the shrine. Neither of them would be able to perform these rituals, at least not for quite some time. So why…?

An image of the two suspicious men in suits from this morning flashed in her mind.

"Ito-sama," she ventured hesitantly, "You wouldn't happen to be showing this to us because you're afraid of those contractors that are after the shrine, are you?"

The priest said nothing, but looked away. He never looked away from her, stubborn to the core, even when he was wrong. Which meant she was right, he was afraid. She grit her teeth, suddenly furious.

 _I should have dropped a few roof tiles on their heads when I had the chance,_ she thought.

"Woah woah woah, what's this about people after our shrine?" Kouji asked, alarmed. Chihiro said nothing as she stared at her mentor. After all, he'd refused to answer her when she'd pestered him about it this morning.

The older man heaved a great tired sigh, looking for the first time, Chihiro thought, like his actual age. He lowered himself onto the ground as if the weight of the world was pushing him towards it. His two young protegés followed him, imitating his perfect _seiza_ position.

"I haven't brought you here only to share with you our sacred traditions. What I am about to tell you is the greatest secret of our precious home. Before I reveal it, you must first swear an oath to the mountain and to Tamayama no Eihei that you will guard it for the rest of your lives. Are you both prepared for that?" The priest demanded.

Chihiro and Kouji didn't even take a full second to consider their answer. As one, they placed their palms on the ground in front of them and bowed deeply. "We would be honored."

Ito-sama's stern expression broke, the affection he reserved exclusively for his favorite young people softening the deep lines on his face. "Very well then."

"The heads of Iriguchi Shrine have known for many centuries that the land it resides on hides a vast quantity of jade, but that is not the real treasure we are protecting. The details of this story have been purposely stricken from the records in order to protect the truth, and have been maintained solely through oral tradition. Priest to priest, as I am doing now. Normally, I would wait until someone officially succeeds me, but with the threat looming, I think it best that I do it now. Long ago in the distant past, spirits roamed the land uninhibited. They coexisted alongside human beings in simple harmony. But eventually, as more and more conflicts arose between them, and animosity sullied their once peaceful relationship, it became necessary to protect them from each other. The most powerful sorcerers from each side erected a barrier between the worlds separating them forever. However, the two worlds are inextricably linked, two sides of the same coin. One cannot possibly live without the other. Throughout the known world, there exist tethers connecting our world to theirs, strings that sew the fabric of reality together at the seams. This mountain is the home of one such place."

Chihiro couldn't breath. _Why did this sound so familiar?_ Something was scratching on the door in the back of her mind, a memory demanding to come in. She clutched at her head, the sudden onslaught of the familiar Deja vu leaving her with a splitting headache.

A long low sound, like the warning growl of a cat, echoed in the air around her. Chihiro froze, an involuntary shudder racing up her spine. The hair on her arms stood on end. She was being watched.

" _Poor little girl,"_ a deep voice ghosted behind her, " _tormented by a past you can't remember. How pitiful."_

She turned around so fast she gave herself whiplash. She searched every corner of the room, but there was nothing. Her eyes locked onto the _go-shintai_. It gazed back at her. The flickering shadows seemed to grow longer and darker as she stared at it. The atmosphere was oppressive.

" _I can help you."_

"Chihiro!"

Chihiro gave a violent start, suddenly looking into Kouji's concerned face. He searched her expression as if looking for an injury, before smiling widely.

"Damn, you suddenly went all quiet and spacey. What's the matter? Did Gramps's ghost story freak you out?" He asked lightheartedly. Chihiro took a deep breath, letting her eyes wander over the room once more. The shadows were back to normal, and the creeping sensation of strange eyes on her had disappeared. She breathed out a hollow laugh.

"No, it's just your face."

"Ouch."

She turned her attention back to her mentor, who was watching her with a keen interest. He saw right through her. She looked at the ground, mumbling a short "I'm fine".

"Come on Gramps, you don't seriously believe there's some kind of portal to another dimension around here right? If there were these magic doors or whatever, wouldn't someone have found and reported one by now?" Kouji asked. Despite being practically raised in a shrine, Kouji had always harbored a healthy skepticism towards the supernatural. Religion was one thing, ghosts and demons and mystical powers? Nope.

The old man smiled at his grandson, though he somehow managed to make it ever so slightly condescending. "Oh I don't doubt they've been found before, but I'm not certain the unfortunate few who have stumbled upon one have ever returned. People disappear all the time. The Devil's Sea is just off the coast you know."

Kouji's jaw dropped.

"As I was saying, it is our sacred duty to guard the passageway against all manner of threat. Unfortunately, one such threat has appeared. One year ago, a company approached me about mining the jade in the mountain. I have repeatedly refused them, but they grow ever more persistent, and I fear they may soon get desperate. It is imperative that we stop them from getting their hands on the shrine. If they do, they will destroy the mountain, and the gate along with it. The very state of reality hangs in the balance, for if you tug on a single thread, the whole tapestry unravels."

Chihiro and Kouji sat in shocked silence. Yesterday, their biggest problem was fixing the leaking roof, and today it was _saving the world!?_

Chihiro was overwhelmed. She didn't know what to say, what _could_ she say? The shrine was old and poor, with only four attendants. How were they supposed to go up against a powerful mining company? Not to mention that she was still grappling with the bells ringing in her head. Something was skirting around the edge of her mind, a thought or a memory. It was on the tip of her tongue, but she just _couldn't remember._

"Well shit." Kouji interrupted the prolonged silence. "What are we going to do?"

"Nothing needs to be done right this moment. But we need to begin preparing for the inevitable conflict. Tomorrow, I am going to visit an old friend of mine, a lawyer in Tokyo. Kouji you'll go with me, I may need some help getting around. Chihiro, in my absence, you will be acting head priestess. Hinata will be here on the weekend to assist you. I am sorry to have to burden you this way." Ito-sama said, and then he did something that Chihiro would never forget. Her mentor bowed to them. Not the casual, familiar bow one performs every day, but a reverent bow, his head nearly touching the floor in front of him. "I am deeply grateful for the both of you."

Chihiro's chest swelled with emotion. She had always struggled to find her place in this world, and now, finally, she truly felt accepted. She would go to the ends of the earth for this place, her home, and for the man who had taught her nearly everything she knew.

The young woman launched herself forward, wrapping the old man in a tight hug. He seemed bewildered for just a moment, before smiling and patting her comfortingly on the back. She heard a sniffle from behind her.

"Are you crying?" she asked the boy behind her, incredulous.

"What? No! It's just old and musty in here!" Kouji denied, but his voice broke.

"Shut up and get over here."

Kouji gave a weak, token protest before joining the embrace. They stayed like that for just a moment.

"You just wanted an excuse to hug Chihiro." Ito-sama accused.

"I did not! Why do you have to ruin the moment Gramps?"

The older man looked away in fake disappointment. "I can't believe I raised my grandson to be so crude." He trolled.

"Ugh! You're the worst!" Kouji groaned.

"You look very _healthy_." He mocked as he stood to leave.

Kouji blushed and slammed a palm to his forehead before stomping after him. They bickered all the way out the door, Chihiro giggling along behind them. As she passed under the door frame, a breath of air lifted the hair on the back of her neck.

" _See you tomorrow, little girl."_

She turned sharply to look into the dark room.

There was no one there.


	5. The Truth

Chihiro stared at the wooden door to the _honden_ , a bucket of soapy water in her hands, trying to remember how to breathe. She had put off doing this all day, trying to psych herself up. All she had to do was clean the space, light the incense, and say the prayers. Then she could get the hell out of there.

She had seen Ito-sama and Kouji off that morning, after the priest had given her explicit instructions on how to tend to the sanctuary. At the time, it had seemed like no big deal. Now she was starting to have some concerns. She remembered the voice she had heard yesterday that apparently no one else had noticed. Was it just her imagination again? But it had seemed so real! 

_I can help you._

So it said, but every fiber of her being wanted nothing more than to run away. It didn’t sound like a voice that wanted to _help_ her. It was deep, almost malicious…

_Poor little girl, tormented by a past you can’t remember. How pitiful._

There hadn’t been a single day since Chihiro moved here that she hadn’t been haunted by that awful feeling of forgetting something important. Like she’d left the house with the stove on. She suspected her parents suffered the same. Ever since those three lost days. Could the mysterious voice know something about it?

_I can help you._

She slid open the door. 

There was the mural, the orange cat guarding the door. She swallowed thickly, trying to ignore the familiar tugging as it began again. She lit the lantern and pulled out the heavy key her mentor had given her. Slowly, she opened the door, eyeing the cat warily the whole time.

Upon seeing the empty room, she let out the breath she’d been holding. The inner sanctuary was exactly as she had seen it before. She laughed, but it sounded high and stringy to her own ears.

“See? Nothing spooky or mysterious about it. Yesterday was just your average, run of the mill psychotic break.” She tried to convince herself. But she still had to turn her back to the pedestal as she began washing the floors. After an hour of cleaning and trying her hardest not to look at the statue at the center of the room, she had nearly convinced herself that she was being paranoid after all. She even started humming the tune of an extremely annoying commercial jingle to lighten the mood. 

She wiped her forehead and looked around the spotless room, not a speck of dust in sight. She nodded, satisfied. She turned her attention to the pedestal at the center of the room, and some of her nerve left her. It was the eyes, they were the kind that followed you around the room.

“Calm down Chihiro, it’s just an eminent mountain deity. You can do this.” She said. She approached the center of the room cautiously until she was standing directly in front of the _go-shintai._ She lit two incense sticks in the lantern flame and placed them upright in their holders. The smoke trailed to the ceiling in thin tendrils, filling the air with their potent scent. She knelt before the statue, clapped her hands together twice, and bowed. She went through the motions of the daily ritual as Ito-sama had taught her, trying to put all her focus on it. When she had finished, she glanced tentatively at the statue. It hadn’t moved.

_Of course it hasn’t moved. Stop being an idiot._ She chastised herself.

She rose to her feet, examining the crouching cat. Upon closer inspection, she could see the detail that went into the carving. The graceful slope of its back, the faint etching of fur. The jade beads, casting a green glow onto the stone. It really was a beautiful object. A strange compulsion overwhelmed her, and before she could even think about it, she had reached up to touch the animal’s head. 

It was warm.

She gasped and snatched her hand away. She stared at her fingers incredulously, then back at the statue. To her horror, the statue’s eyes began to glow. The flame in the lantern she held in her quivering hand snuffed out, leaving the room dark but for the yellow cat eyes that pierced through the blackness. An instinctive dread froze her to the spot. A deep, masculine laugh echoed around the room, and goosebumps raced up her arms.

_Nope. Nope. Nope._

She turned and made to sprint to the door, but immediately tripped over the wooden bucket, sending her sprawling to the floor. She didn’t stop to check her aching forehead, but sprung up quick as she could and stumbled in the direction of the exit. Or where she thought the exit was. It was dark as pitch, not even a crack of light from the door outside guided her. She put her arms out and made her way unsteadily forward. 

Her outstretched hands met something solid, and she fumbled for the door handle.

“Getting a little frisky aren’t you? We hardly know each other yet.” Said a very real, very _close_ voice. She shrieked at the unexpected sound and fell backwards. 

A sudden spark of light illuminated the darkness. A ball of fire, hovering mid air over long, wicked claws. Chihiro’s shocked gaze trailed up a sinuous arm, broad shoulders, and directly into luminous yellow eyes. The pupils were slit down the middle; the sharp, upward tilting shape rimmed with black.

_A cat._ The comparison came to her almost instantly. 

He was tall and lithe, a shock of orange hair was pulled up into an untidy high ponytail. His skin was deeply tanned, as though he had spent a lot of time outside. He was dressed in a simple burgundy _kimono_ and charcoal gray _hakama_ , but a richly embroidered black haori was draped over his shoulders. A pair of swords rested on his hip.

“What’s the matter? Cat got your tongue?” He mocked as he knelt before her trembling form. Sharp canine teeth glinted in the light of the flame. 

A short, almost hysterical laugh escaped Chihiro’s throat at the awful pun. Her brain was having some trouble comprehending the impossibility of what she was seeing right now. Up to this point she had kind of been banking on the insanity theory she’d been working with, but now she had to scrap that option. 

_I can’t be hallucinating this. I’m not that creative._

She had always assumed gods and spirits and the like were more, well, _spiritual._ More a concept than anything, a vague, indistinct entity. But now she was sitting before a real life, actual _god_ and was having to do some rapid reevaluation of reality.

“As I thought, you really do smell faintly of home. You wouldn’t remember anything about it though, what with the Border Spell and all.” He mentioned offhand. Chihiro floundered for a response to the nonsensical comment, her brain still playing catch up.

“Tamayama no...Eihei-sama?” she asked hesitantly, her voice cracking in the middle. The strange man’s expression soured. He flicked his finger, and the little ball of fire floating above his hand shot toward her. She flinched out of the way, but it curved away from her and into the lantern. The man crossed his arms and curled his lip like he smelled something bad.

“Don’t call me that. It’s already intolerable enough that I’ve been imprisoned here for five centuries without tacking on that stupid nickname.” He griped.

“So you really are a…?” Chihiro gasped. The stranger gave her an imperious smirk. 

“I believe “handsome, all-powerful spirit” are the words you’re looking for there, little girl. You of all people should recognize one when you see it.” He mocked.

Chihiro pressed her fingers to her temples, which had started to throb with pressure. That awful feeling was welling up in her, stronger than it had ever been. She was starting to feel lightheaded.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.” she told him, though the words sounded unsure once she’d said them aloud. 

“Don’t you?” he asked with a sneer, “Are you sure about that?”

She shook her head, screwing her eyes shut against the pain. 

“I...I’m not…”, she stuttered, but froze as she felt a soft tug against the braid draped over her shoulder. Her hair came loose, spilling down all the way to the small of her back. She opened her eyes to see her sparkly purple hairband, the one she had always had, pinched between his sharp nails. He brought it to his face and slowly inhaled.

“This is a magic talisman, and there is no human alive who is capable of producing one as powerful as this. Where could you have gotten it, I wonder?” He asked knowingly. 

Chihiro’s mind went blank. Now that he mentioned it, the answer came to her like a crack of lightning. All those years ago, she walked into that tunnel with her parents, and she came out wearing that. She remembered taking her hair down that night and being bewildered by the beautiful accessory, but simply shrugged it off and never thought of it again. 

“Let me see if I can make this easier for your poor human mind. Have you had any lapses in memory lately? Any strange phenomena you couldn’t explain?” he offered with a broad, malicious smile, “Ever felt like you were forgetting something?”

Chihiro’s blood ran cold.

“How could you know that?” She whispered. She had never told _anyone_ about that, except her parents, and even they didn’t want to believe it. He chuckled at her and rose to his feet. Chihiro scrambled to follow him, her legs jelly beneath her. Chihiro fought not to cower under his gaze, but could feel the slightest tremble in her lower lip. She hoped he wouldn’t notice.

“Being the guardian of the Seventh Gate has its perks. I just wish those perks came with better food. Sake and mochi get a little old after awhile.” He said pointedly.

Chihiro shivered, licking the sweat from her upper lip. She giggled nervously. “You uh... don’t happen to eat humans though, right?”

He barked a laugh, making her jump. “ _I_ don’t, though I’m not opposed to a little hunting for sport. Your kind are a little too pungent for my taste. Like _natto_. Though I suppose I could make an exception for a cute girl like you.”

_In other words, the only thing between me and a Chihiro kabab is how hangry he is._ She started scooting towards the door. He followed her.

“I’ll have to tell Ito-sama to leave you some nice fish or some catnip or something next time. Now if you’ll just excuse me…” she made a break for it.

“Aren’t you curious about what happened to you?” 

She paused.

“Ah, that got your attention, didn’t it?”

Slowly, she turned to face him once more, her hand still on the door handle. One motion and she could be outside once more, back to where ghosts weren’t real and kami were vague entities to be worshipped from a safe distance. But the part of her that stared out the window every morning urged her to stay, to hear him out.

“And I suppose you’d be able to tell me?” She asked cautiously. He smiled, seeing her tempted. 

“I _might_ be able to part with that information, for a nominal fee.”

Now, if Chihiro had learned anything from horror tropes, it’s that deals with demons almost always go wrong. He wasn’t a demon, per say, but she had a feeling the rule still applied here. She had to think carefully, or she was going to get royally screwed by the end of this. Chihiro considered him. He looked perfectly calm, even smug, but something about the way he was fixated on her made her think that he was just as invested in this as she was.

_Proceed with caution._ She thought.

“And that would be…?” She poked. He shrugged nonchalantly, though his eyes never left her face. 

“Oh, nothing too big. Just my freedom.” He strode over to the carved cat, gesturing at the jade beads around its neck. “All you have to do is slip these bad boys off and I’ll be free to go back home to the spirit world, then everyone can happily get on with their lives.”

Chihiro blanched. He wanted her to let the guy who had just admitted to killing people for fun loose on the rest of the world? He had to be joking! What was stopping him from slicing her open the minute she took off those beads? Nope, she had to be smart about this.

She made a pose, as if considering his offer. She made him wait a bit longer than was necessary, just to make him sweat. His fingers flexed with impatience.

“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” She finally asked. He blinked, caught off guard. 

“What do you mean? Of course I’m telling the truth.” He asserted. The young woman sighed dramatically and shook her head. 

“So you say, but don’t you think it’s a little far-fetched? You make these big claims about giving me all the answers to my problems, but you could be lying. I know if I was in your position, I’d say anything to get out.” She reasoned. He opened his mouth to argue, then closed it. She had a point.

“Unless you really are lying to me, in which case, I’m going to go ahead and leave.” She turned the door handle. She saw a brief moment of panic flash on his face.

“I’ll show you.” One clawed hand reached out towards her face, and Chihiro couldn’t help but reflexively flinch backwards. Two fingers pressed against her forehead just between the eyes, and then she was falling.

It felt like her skull was being split. Images flooded her mind with vivid clarity, an avalanche of memories rushing into her brain with enough force to level a town. 

_“Come on, quit eating! Let’s get out of here!”_

_“She’s my granddaughter.”_

_“A human! You’re in trouble, you’re the one everyone’s looking for!”_

_“That’s how Yubaba controls you...by stealing your name.”_

_“Hands down! You’ll insult our guest!”_

_“Play with me or I’ll break your arm.”_

_“SEN!”_

She hit the ground. Above her, the ceiling of the entry hall was spinning dangerously, and nausea rose in her throat. She convulsed, and put a hand to her mouth to stop from being sick.

_“Will we meet again?”_

_“Sure we will.”_

_“Promise?”_

_“Promise.”_

She had gone to the spirit world when she was ten years old, and she remembered every moment of it as if it had happened yesterday.

A dull ringing filled her ears as she looked around, disoriented. It was as if the axis of the world had tilted, and everything was on its head. Nothing looked the same anymore. Something tickled her cheek and she reached up to see what it was. Her fingers came away wet. She was crying. 

Someone stood in the doorway to the inner sanctuary. He reached out to her, but static jumped at his fingers from the threshold, and he pulled away like it had burned him. His mouth moved, but Chihiro could not hear the words over the ringing, and the dull thump of her own erratic heart beat. She shook her head and used a nearby trunk to heave herself onto her feet. Her vision swam and she had to catch herself on the wall to stay upright. 

She needed to get out of there. She needed to lay down. She needed coffee or alcohol or therapy or _something_ that would make sense of the cacophony of thoughts in her head. 

With a brief glance back at the wide cat eyes trapped at the door, she ran out of the building.

The minute Chihiro stepped outside she was done for. The sun assaulted her eyes, and she found herself on all fours, hurling her lunch onto the cobblestone. 

“Chihiro!”

She turned to see a figure rushing toward her, but before she could tell who it was she was out.


	6. The Friends

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For eliza, my first reviewer. Thanks for keeping me going!

Zeniba snapped the thread she'd been sewing with and swore. Across the room, a tall ethereal figure turned to look at her, its stark white mask almost orange in the light of the fire it was tending to.

"Uh uh." It wordlessly asked in concern. Zeniba put down her embroidery and hurried over to the large basin in the corner of her quaint cottage. She took a pitcher of water from the table and poured it in. The moment the liquid touched the polished silver, it took on a pearlescent sheen, and began to slowly swirl in a clockwise direction.

"No-face, could you please run and get the purple drawstring bag from the upper right drawer of my desk in the office?" She asked as she rustled through the pages of a massive, leather-bound spellbook. The creature nodded and swiftly glided into the adjacent room. He returned a moment later to find the old witch hunched over the basin, waving one wrinkled hand over the water as if encouraging it to spin faster and mouthing the words of a spell the simple creature could not understand. It placed the velvet bag on the corner of the table and promptly made its way into the corner to watch from a safe distance.

"That foolish girl. I placed a spell on that talisman that compelled her to keep it on her at all times, and now she's gone and lost it somehow!" She grumbled as she rummaged around in the tiny bag. Finally she pulled out a thin pink hair tie with a small knot where it had broken once before. She threw it into the shimmering basin. As it dropped into the churning water the ripples spread, creating a perfectly still, glassy surface in its wake. A wavering image began to emerge. "Hmm, the picture would have been clearer with a drop of her blood or a lock of her hair, but this will have to do."

Zeniba squinted at the fuzzy image, trying to make sense of the colors shifting and wobbling uncertainly, before realizing all at once what she was seeing. The eyes of a cat, wide and yellow, stared back at her. A weight dropped into her stomach and she staggered back, a hand pressed to her wrinkled forehead, which was suddenly covered in a cold sweat.

"Oh dear."

"Uh-uh!" No-face rushed forward to scoot a wooden chair behind the witch's knees, which she gratefully fell into. She suddenly looked pale and haggard, much more the feeble old crone than she had ever acted before.

"Oh dear." She repeated, "It's worse than I imagined."

She took a deep breath, fighting to calm the dreadful feeling that had overcome her, and smoothed back the piece of hair that had come loose from her bun. No-face hovered anxiously over her, dark hands waving uselessly in the air as she stood on unsteady feet and brushed her dress as if to wipe away the fear that had taken root.

"No-face, it's time to start making preparations. I expect we'll be having visitors soon."

* * *

Chihiro woke up with the hangover from hell. Her head was pounding, and the dying light streaming through the window made her want to gauge out her eyeballs. Not to mention the awful taste in her mouth.

She groaned and rolled onto her back, pressing her arm to her face so she could continue ignoring reality for a little longer.

"Chihiro, you've got drool on your cheek."

Chihiro slapped her hand to her mouth harder than she'd intended and immediately regretted it as the pain chased away the last hope for sleep that she had. She groaned and pulled herself into a sitting position. Across from her sat Hinata, the only other shrine maiden at the Iriguchi Shrine, in her crisp school uniform.

Hinata was classically cute, with chestnut hair that curled at her chin and big black doe eyes. She was very petite too, pale, and almost delicate looking. She wasn't particularly expressive either, maintaining an air of solemn boredom at almost all times. It was easy to compare her to a doll, until she opened her mouth that is.

"Glad to see you're finally awake. I was getting tired of waiting for you." She said in her characteristically monotone voice.

"Glad to see you're such a kind and patient person." She retorted sarcastically. She eyed her junior's attire. "In casual clothes again I see. Where's your uniform?"

The young girl popped a pocky stick she had produced from somewhere into her mouth.

"Didn't want to risk getting all your sick on it while I dragged your ass to the priests' place. Might wanna check your head, I might have dropped you on it once or twice." She said.

Chihiro froze. She put her hand to her head and slowly turned her gaze to the open window. She could just barely see the _honden_ through the trees, looking just as it always did. A flash of orange hair, a glint of sharp nails, a tiny, wavering flame that seemed to float on the breeze.

_So that wasn't a dream, that crazy nightmare really happened. Which means...I'm actually going to go broke shelling out for counseling. Not that I was flush with cash to begin with._

The tugging in her stomach which had guided her the last ten years of her life had vanished. No deja vu, no gnawing sense of forgetfulness, no compulsion to go to an unattainable location. She felt free for the first time in over a decade. It was all real, she had met the god of the shrine, and he had somehow restored her memories.

She'd been to the spirit world.

Something bubbled up in her throat, and before she could stop herself, she was laughing. Hysterical giggles turned into full on doubled over, stomach aching laughs.

"Chihiro, why the hell are you crying? Are you in pain? Do you need a doctor or something?" Hinata asked, a tinge of genuine concern in her voice. Chihiro stopped, confused. Something dripped onto the hands folded over her stomach, and she wiped the bewildering tears from her chin. That seemed to be happening often lately.

"Huh, I don't know." She answered absently. Hinata's eyebrows furrowed, and she opened her mouth to say something.

The sliding door from across the room slammed open, followed by a shriek that could have probably been heard all the way at the base of the mountain. Amaya, Chihiro's best friend since middle school, stood in the doorway, arms laden with grocery bags. Her mop of blue hair was disheveled and her dark lipstick smudged.

"My darling! You're awake!" The vibrantly colored figure exclaimed, bounding into the room at an alarming speed. A mountain of every conceivable medicine was dumped on Chihiro's lap, and before she could even question it, a warm towel was wrapped around her neck and a thermometer was forced past her lips.

"Thank goodness, you don't have a fever. How's your head? Hinata dropped you." She asked, probing Chihiro's skull for lumps. Chihiro spit out the thermometer and shooed her wandering hands away.

"I'm fine! How did you get here? And why on earth did you buy a laxative?" She asked as she pawed through the various pill bottles strewn about. Amaya crossed her arms indignantly.

"Hinata just called and said you were sick. I didn't know what to get so I just bought it all." She huffed. "After all that trouble to come to my dear friend's rescue, and I don't even get a hello! My sweet, you're so cruel!" She sniffled dramatically, wiping an invisible tear from her cheek.

"I saw you this morning." Chihiro deadpanned.

"Is it too much to ask to be constantly showered with love?"

"Yes." Chihiro paused. "Wait, how did Hinata call you? She doesn't even have your number."

Hinata tossed Chihiro's cell phone at her, which she just managed to catch before it hit her square between the eyes. "You should really consider changing your password to something other than your birthday."

Chihiro grimaced.

"So what the hell happened? First day as head priestess and you pass out on me." Hinata questions, now munching on an apple.

Chihiro shifted uncomfortably in her seat. The two of them were looking at her with such curiosity. What was she going to tell them?

_Oh I just happened to meet the god of our shrine who threatened to eat me and then matrixed me into remembering that I wandered into another dimension when I was a child. No big deal._

"Oh, I think I just ate some bad fish or something. No big deal."

_Smooth._

The two shared an unconvinced look, but Hinata simply shrugged. "As long as she's not actively dying, I don't really care."

"Are laxatives good for that kind of thing? I've got lots." Amaya asked the younger girl.

"You might actually kill her some day." Hinata responded with her signature dull look.

"As I was saying," Chihiro interjected, rubbing her throbbing temples, "I'm clearly fine now, so I'm just going to go and finish up my work…"

She flipped off the blanket lying over her and made to stand, but Amaya slapped a hand to her forehead and shoved it back onto the pillow like a wrestler clotheslining his opponent. Chihiro groaned, and she could hear Hinata mumbling about third degree murder in the background.

"Oh no you don't. You're going to lay there like a good patient while I grab your stuff and Hinata will take care of all that. Then I'm going to take you back to my place where we will engage in a healthy Netflix binge with appropriate sick-person snacks." She decreed. Chihiro opened her mouth to argue but the look on Amaya's face was non-negotiable.

She deflated. "Sorry Hinata, would you mind…?"

"I got it boss. Just go home before you make me have to lug your corpse across the courtyard again."

"I'm not dead."

"Yet."

A few hours later saw the two friends lying on cushions strewn about the living room floor in front of the television, surrounded by copious amounts of chocolate, popcorn, and alcohol. Amaya tried to make Chihiro a bowl of congee, but the resulting discolored sludge was so disturbing to look at that they had both deemed it unsafe to consume. After some convincing from Chihiro, Amaya decided she was well enough for normal food, which had naturally devolved into a full blown movie night. Three cups of sake in, and Chihiro was reveling in a very pleasant buzz.

"So now that I've plied you with food and drink, are you ready to tell me what really happened this afternoon?" Amaya suddenly asked. Chihiro stopped sifting through her friend's collection of old Disney VHS tapes.

"I told you, I ate some bad fish," Chihiro weakly reiterated. She thought she'd managed to cover her ass with her lame excuse, but Amaya knew her better than anyone. She should have known she wouldn't have been able to let it go so easily.

"And that bad fish caused you to faint in a cold sweat and start raving in a delirious fever dream? I don't think so." Amaya gave her a disappointed look, and poured her another glass of sake.

Chihiro looked at her, startled. "Fever dream?"

Amaya settled back and started sipping on her gin and tonic. 'Yeah. As soon as you passed out you started shouting about spirits and stuff. Scared the bejeezus out of Hinata, so she called me. If you'd just been ill she wouldn't have bothered."

Chihiro sat, dumbfounded. She was surprised that Hinata cared enough to call someone for help, the girl was always so aloof. But now she could picture how scary that must have been for her, to come to work and find your coworker writhing around on the ground screaming about nonsensical things. She'd have to remember to thank her profusely next time she saw her.

"So? You gonna spill or are we going to have to get you a psych eval?" Amaya pried. Chihiro sighed heavily. She'd barely had time to process everything that had happened. Even now she could hardly believe it herself. But at the same time, the weight of everything she'd learned was pressing down on her. She was desperate to say the words out loud, to have someone tell her that she wasn't nuts. She wanted to share, but at the same time, she was terrified that her best friend would dismiss her, just like her parents had.

"You won't believe me." Chihiro said hesitantly, staring at the cushion in front of her intensely. Amaya scoffed, and put her drink down.

"Chihiro, the minute you walked into my classroom in middle school and told Kenta Miyamoto to shove it for making fun of my freckles, I knew we were going to be best friends. And, as your best friend, I can say with certainty that you are one of the most absurdly honest people I have ever met. Even in situations where literally anyone else wouldn't, you stick to your guns. It's almost scary."

"You're one to talk." Chihiro pouted.

"Oh hush, I'm praising you, you know? Anyway, you've got no reason to lie. So go ahead and get it all out. I promise I'll listen until the end." Amaya opened her arms for a comforting hug. Big, fat tears welled up in Chihiro's eyes as she crawled into her friend's embrace.

She told her everything. Not just about her mystifying encounter with the god of the shrine, but about her harrowing experience travelling to the spirit world when she was a child. It all came tumbling out in a rush, like water bursting through a dam. About halfway through, deep wrenching sobs punctuated her story, but she didn't stop.

As the words fell from her lips they became more solid, more real. As if she had plucked them from the hazy safety of her dreams and laid them out bare on the ground. Amaya said nothing, rubbing Chihiro's arm in soothing circles while she told her story. Finally, she quieted, hiccupping softly into the silence.

Chihiro grew more and more anxious as the minutes passed and still Amaya had not said anything. She glanced up. Amaya's expression was far away, as if she were ruminating on a very old memory.

"Aren't you going to say anything?" Chihiro asked nervously. Amaya blinked out of whatever she was thinking so deeply about, and gave her friend a smile.

"You know, back when I first met you, the very first thing I thought was that you looked like you were caught up in your own world."

"Huh? What do you mean?" Chihiro had been expecting something more along the lines of, " _Have you eaten any suspicious looking mushrooms lately?_ "

"Yeah, you were always staring off into the distance with this sad look on your face, I don't even know how I would describe it. Like you'd dropped a piece of your soul somewhere and were constantly searching for it. I guess now I know why." She explained. Chihiro's heart leapt.

"You believe me? But isn't it totally nuts?" Chihiro asked incredulously. Amaya scoffed, crossing her arms over her chest.

"Of course it is. Completely outlandish. But I said I would believe you no matter what, so if you say you've seen spirits then you have." Amaya asserted. Chihiro's lip quivered, but before she could go off again, Amaya flicked her forehead. "Don't you start that again, you've always cried far too easily. If you're grateful I'd rather see your beautiful smile."

Chihiro attempted a watery half-smile. Amaya sighed and pinched her cheeks, pulling them up at the corners.

"Close enough."

At that moment, the front door swung open and in walked Satoru, Amaya's fiancé. He was a tall, broad, imposing man in his early thirties, with a starched collar and perfect posture. He was a man of few words and even fewer facial expressions, and to those who didn't know him, he was terrifying. But Chihiro knew better.

"Satoru! You're home!" Amaya sprung to her feet to greet him with a kiss at the door, and he presented her with a single white chrysanthemum, her favorite flower. Amaya squealed girlishly and threw herself at him, and Chihiro had to look away to give them some privacy.

She felt a weight settle on the top of her head, and when she reached up to grab it, she pulled down a large banana. She looked up at Satoru's normally intimidating, expressionless face, covered in kiss marks from Amaya's wine red lipstick, and burst out laughing.

"Awww, Chihiro don't laugh, he heard you were sick today so he got you some bananas! Isn't he just the sweetest?" Satoru looked away, the slightest hint of a blush on his cheekbones. Chihiro calmed down.

"Oh my god the _cutest."_ Chihiro mimicked. The blush deepened. How adorable. "Congratulations on your promotion Detective, Amaya told me all about it."

Satoru bowed as Amaya rushed to clean up the mess they'd made on the living room floor. "The youngest in his department! I should make something extra special for dinner tonight to celebrate!"

Satoru looked at her in alarm, and Chihiro jumped in, thinking of the indescribable slime that was her congee attempt only hours before. "How about I make something? As a thank you for letting me stay here for awhile."

"Mmmmm, Chihiro's cooking! Even better. I think I'm craving curry." She beamed as she pranced into the kitchen with arms full of trash and alcohol bottles."

Satoru breathed a sigh of relief once she'd left the room. Chihiro patted his arm comfortingly, "You're going to starve once you're married."

"Worth it." He responded shortly. Chihiro smiled.

"Go wash your face, I can't take you seriously."

Later that night in her futon in the living room, full of bananas and spicy curry, Chihiro stared at the ceiling. She was so grateful to have a friend as good as Amaya, someone who would listen to her and believe in her without question. Chihiro was not unaware of how unusual that was, how precious. But then, Amaya had always been extraordinary, whatever she did.

Amaya was one of those rare people that genuinely didn't care what others thought of her. She was bold, and weird, and entirely unapologetic. She totally rejected the strict, conformist nature of Japanese society and chose to live exactly how she pleased; dying her hair vibrant colors, getting multiple piercings, and making a living as a gallery artist.

Satoru was her exact opposite, a reserved and buttoned up police officer. And yet they were the perfect match. Really, a romance like everyone dreams.

A vision of jade eyes seemed to be staring back at her from the white ceiling, eyes sharp with an intellect far too keen for the childish face they belonged to. Her heart panged at the memory and she groaned, rubbing her face to remove the image.

_Ridiculous. I was a kid! There's no way I could've had those kinds of feelings way back then. Besides, he probably doesn't even remember me anymore._

She closed her eyes, willing sleep to come to her. But even as she drifted off, she imagined herself flying on the back of a white dragon towards a familiar and wondrous dream.


	7. The Lunch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the long wait, I got a new job, which has reduced my time significantly. But I will be back with new chapters as often as I can! A special thanks to eliza, cathy, MaeYvonne, Jo on, and Turniptree for your comments! I can't even begin to tell you how happy they made me.

_ I must have a death wish.  _

Chihiro found herself in a nauseatingly familiar position. She stood in front of the _honden_ once again, this time with a bottle of sake and a bento box tied up neat in a blue and white checkered handkerchief. She hadn’t even made a lucid decision to bring it, but as she was preparing lunches for Amaya and Satoru she had suddenly found herself making one extra. 

After an experience like the one she’d had, any sane person would stay as far away from the building as humanly possible. But as she was discovering, Chihiro was not actually in her right mind.

But as she’d tossed and turned the night before, haunted by memories long passed, she couldn’t help but wake up to the thought of the cat locked up in the dark room. Their conversation played on repeat in her brain. Five hundred years, he said. Half a millennium huddled in lonely silence, dreaming about the very same place she did.

And she had tricked him. Maybe it was that small twinge of guilt that brought her back. Maybe she was just morbidly curious.

She strode into the entry hall before she could reconsider what she was about to do. The silence was stifling, the walls muffled the comforting sounds of birds chirping and insects buzzing in the forest outside. She lit the lamp with shaky fingers and took a deep, bracing breath. The painted cat stared down at her with hateful eyes, judging her. She swallowed the dry lump in her throat and unlocked the door. It swung opened on creaking hinges without her having to pull it. 

She didn’t step through, instead searching the dimly lit room wearily from the threshold. It was empty, but she wouldn’t be fooled twice. She knew what was hiding in there. 

“Alright, come on out. The monster in the closet act is getting a bit old.” She said into the darkness. A shadow moved in the corner of her eye, and she swung her head to look at it, but she couldn’t spot his unmistakable imposing silhouette anywhere.

“I know you’re in there, I just want to talk.” She entreated, shifting her weight. A low feline growl echoed around the room. Chihiro could tell that the sound was meant to be threatening, and yesterday she would have been scared stiff, but now she could distinguish the grumpy edge to the tone. Like a petulant child groaning about not getting their way.

Whatever fear she came in with vanished. She rolled her eyes and huffed. If he was going to go around sulking like a child then she was going to treat him like one. And there was nothing that worked better on children than straight up bribery.

“That’s fine. I  _ was  _ going to give you this delicious grilled teriyaki salmon with egg omelet and vegetables but I guess I’ll eat it if you want to have mochi forever. I know how much you love the food here.” She said into the empty room, her voice dripping with sarcasm as she wiggled the bento box tauntingly. 

A large form materialized from the shadows, and the feeling of triumph at finally having tempted him out withered at the look on his face. She had to stop herself from stepping back, because the heat of his glare could have burned her.

“Come to poke and gawk at the caged animal little girl? Careful not to stick your hand in too far. I bite.” He said with a dark smile, flashing her a glimpse of his wickedly sharp teeth. She swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat. He was angry.  _ Really _ angry. 

“I wanted to talk about…” She ventured, trying to regather some of her confidence, but a derisive snort cut her off.

“You want to talk.” He mocked with a disdainful sneer, “Yes, you humans do a lot of that. Always so clever. I wonder how well you can lie without a tongue.” He threatened. 

“I didn’t lie to you!” She tried to argue. _ Not technically at least.  _

“Oh? Then I guess you’ve come to set me free in return for your memories. In that case, step right in!” He gestured into the austere room with a facetious bow and beckoning hand. Her courage failed her, and his cold stare forced her to look away.

“I-I can’t. I’m sorry.” She admitted. The guilt from this morning resurfaced with a vengeance, clawing at her throat and making her breath catch. She inhaled deeply, trying to clear the feeling. She looked back into his scowling face. “You’re right. I mislead you. But I can’t trust you enough to let you go.” 

He frowned deeply, yellow eyes narrowing with suspicion. “Then why are you here? You have what you wanted. You could fuck off into the sunset and never have to think about me again.”

Chihiro winced at his casual foul language. She fiddled with a split end in her loose hair, just now realizing that it wasn’t tied up for the first time in years. The man in front of her probably still had her purple hairband. Now didn’t seem like a super great time to ask for it back though.

She fell silent at his question. Why had she come? He was right, she didn’t have to. It would have been smarter, and certainly safer, to have just left those doors closed and forgotten about the whole thing. But she  _ couldn’t.  _ She would never be able to continue walking around the shrine everyday, doing her chores and going on with her life knowing that he was still here, and would continue to be here even after she’d died. An eternal prison looming in the corner of her eye with a single tenant.

“It must be so lonely.” She whispered eventually, after what seemed like an hour of silence. The cat’s eyebrow twitched into a brief look of surprise before sinking into an even deeper scowl. His shoulders rose towards his ears, and his fingers curled so she could see the sharp tips of his nails. It was aggressive, but also defensive, an animal in the face of an unknown threat.

“I don’t need pity from a  _ human. _ ” He spat, vitriol dripping from the word like the foulest curse. “I can’t think of anything more humiliating than charity from the likes of you.”

Chihiro had to stop herself from flinching at his tone. What could’ve happened to him to foster such outright hatred? Sure, she hadn’t been completely honest, but this was more than being bitter over a trick. This was deep seated pain and rage, the type that surely would have been festering for years. Maybe five centuries worth.

He clearly hated her guts, along with the rest of the human race, and probably had a good reason to, so why did she feel the sharp sting of rejection like a knife in her chest? She had come here with an olive branch, which he obviously didn’t want. She should just accept that and retreat back to her comfortably ignorant life.

But she wasn’t really ignorant anymore was she? He had given back her memories, and with them a host of complex feelings she hadn’t even begun to sort through. Going to the Spirit World had been the singular most terrifying experience of her life, but also the most extraordinary. She had worked hard, made friends, and run for her life in a place so alien that she couldn’t decipher half of it even now. Though she remembered every detail with perfect clarity, she felt strangely disconnected from it, as if it had all happened to someone else. She simply couldn’t reconcile her world, reality, with the strange and magical world from her childhood. It’s like she had experienced it all in a vivid dream, and awoken with the taste of it fresh on her tongue.

But somehow, despite his attitude towards her, all of that went away when she looked at him. A spirit, real and tangible, in her own world. He was the thread that stitched her two realities together, the seam at the edge of two disparate worlds.

And even though he hated her, she found his presence even more comforting than her own parents.

She sighed, and fiddled with the checkered cloth in her hands. “I wouldn’t call it pity, per say, more like I’m trying to make amends. It wasn’t right for me to lead you on like that and then bail. And anyway, that’s not the reason I came back, I’m afraid my motivations are a little more selfish than that.” She admitted.

“A selfish human? Why am I not surprised?” The spirit said sarcastically, though the bite in his tone had gone. She pursed her lips, trying to form words from her nebulous feelings. 

“You’re the only thing I have that reminds me of a time in my life that I can’t share with literally anyone else. Proof that it was all real. And despite your bad attitude, I feel comfortable around you.” A small smile slowly grew on her face, hesitantly overtaking her teeth. “I guess I like you.” 

He stared. Opened his mouth, closed it. Stared some more. 

“You  _ like _ me.” He reiterated in flat disbelief. He regarded her dubiously, like he questioned her sanity for even suggesting such a thing. His hackles dropped infinitesimally.

“Have lunch with me.” Chihiro demanded boldly, the hesitant smile growing as she watched the cat reel, suddenly on the defensive. 

“What makes you think I want anything from you?” He tried to regain the intimidating tone he had earlier, but he was caught too off guard to pull it off. 

“Because it’s delicious.” Chihiro promised eagerly. She took a step forward, toes now brushing the invisible barrier at the door. The glare he responded with was weak sauce compared to the ones previous, too confused to be threatening.

“I could skewer you the minute you cross that threshold.” He offered with an indignant huff, brushing the matching swords displayed at his hip. They were beautifully made, the hilts decorated with gold and red, the sheath gleamed with black urushi lacquer, though it was chipped and scratched in places. These were not the modern replicas Chihiro was accustomed to seeing displayed on walls in restaurants and shop windows. These were tools designed to kill. Well loved, and probably well used.

“You won’t.” She replied steadily, though her heart fluttered. She hoped he couldn’t hear.

“And why’s that?” He asked, unconvinced.

“Because you know that there’s still a chance, no matter how small, that I might decide to free you.” 

They sized each other up in a loaded silence for a long time, the tension practically sparking in the air. The cat’s slit eyes were intense, but were met with the equally determined grey of the human in front of him. It felt like a battle of wills, but Chihiro wasn’t going to back down. She had found a chink in his armor, and she wouldn’t hesitate to take full advantage of it. 

“You aren’t going to leave me alone, are you?” He asked finally with a hint of resignation. Chihiro shook her head vigorously, her grin wide enough to split her face.

“Nope.” She popped the  _ p  _ at the end. The cat broke.

“ _ Ugh,  _ fine! Come in, you insufferable creature. That food better be good.” He groaned with his head thrust back, rubbing his temples like her sheer persistence had given him a migraine.

Chihiro did a little fist bump. 

_ Victory is mine.  _

Her first step into the room was like falling from the cliff she’d been flirting with from the moment Ito-sama head led her there. She was struck with the distinct feeling that, whatever happened now, she couldn’t go back. She was set on a path down, down into the rabbit hole. She wondered what was waiting for her at the bottom.

The first few steps into the room she tip-toed, like he would suddenly whip around and slice her in half if she made one wrong move. She tried to be casual about it, portraying a confidence she didn’t feel, but some base instinct kept her from turning her back to him as she pulled the floor cushions in front of the altar towards the center of the room.

He simply watched her warily from the doorway, arms crossed over his biceps, eyes trained on her every movement. She felt nervous under his close scrutiny, but she finally had an in. She wasn’t going to screw it up. She took a deep breath as she carefully unpacked the two bento boxes.

_ I am as cool as a cucumber.  _ She chanted in her head, to keep her chill.  _ A coolcumber. _

She gestured to the seat in front of her. “You can eat and glare at the same time.” 

He frowned at her as he shuffled over, eyes darting between the food and her face like she may have poisoned it. But it smelled good, Chihiro could attest to that, the salty sweet aroma of the teriyaki sauce mixed with the roasted fish. Her stomach growled.

“You’re a weird person.” He finally said with an exasperated sigh as he plopped down in front of her, grabbing the chopsticks. Chihiro beamed at him.

“I’m weird? I don’t think I’ve ever been called that before. My best friend would be so proud.” She snickered, reaching forward to pour them both a cup of sake. 

“Your friend is crazy! That wasn’t a compliment!” He retorted, flustered, as he eagerly reached for the alcohol. He knocked it back in one swift motion before his eyes widened. He looked at the bottle in surprise, licking his lips. “That’s good stuff…” He mumbled, almost too quietly to hear.

“You can thank the nutcase for the good booze then. It was her idea.” She replied as she took a small bite of her vegetables, trying to encourage him to do the same.

He looked at her sharply. “You told her about me?” His voice bordered between astonishment and outrage. Chihiro raised an eyebrow at him.

“Of course I did. Everyone knows you don’t go on a date with a guy unless you’ve got someone to back you up in case they turn out to be some crazy stalker. She’ll probably call me in fifteen minutes to make sure you haven’t murdered me.” Chihiro told him plainly. She chose not to mention to her that he’d already threatened to eat her. 

_ Details. _

“We’re not on a date..!” He began but stopped himself, his head cocked to the side in an adorably inquisitive way, his messy orange ponytail swaying behind him, “wait, call you? Is she going to send a courier?”

_ Uhhh, what? _

“What are you talking about?” She asked blankly. The strangers’ eyebrows furrowed in consternation.

“You said she was going to call on you,” he enunciated like he was talking to a simpleton, “is she going to send a messenger?” 

And all of a sudden it hit her. If he had been stuck in this room for five hundred years, he probably had no idea what a phone was. No internet, no planes, no cars, he probably didn’t even know what electricity was. The world he remembered, outside of this shrine, was of Sengoku era Japan. Even her clothes, the traditional  _ miko _ attire, hadn’t changed much through the centuries. She didn't know what he knew about the world now, but at this secluded shrine on the mountain, it couldn’t have been much.

Chihiro was so overwhelmed she had to laugh, though she might have been on the verge of tears again, she couldn’t tell anymore. She couldn’t say anything in response, so she simply pulled her cellphone out of the waistband of her  _ hakama _ , and presented it to him. 

He didn’t take it, instead looking at it with intrigued disgust, like she was giving him a particularly interesting slug. 

“This is a smartphone.” She said quietly, watching his face, “It’s a common device nowadays. Almost everyone has one, even poor people. It’s almost essential to have one, actually. I can’t imagine living without it.” 

“What does it do?” He asked skeptically. She could tell he wanted to sneer at the unassuming piece of plastic in her hands, and the notion that any such thing could be a necessary part of her everyday life, but he couldn’t hide the glimmer of curiosity that illuminated his jewel-like eyes.

“Everything.” Chihiro said simply. “It lets me talk to people all the way on the other side of the world, it can tell me where I am and where I’m going, it can show me things I’ve never seen before, and it can answer any question I could ever possibly think of.” 

He scoffed, and turned his nose up. “Such a thing isn’t possible, even with magic. You primitive humans couldn’t possibly have created something so…”

Chihiro clicked it on, and the cat went deathly quiet. An image of Amaya and Chihiro with their faces smooshed together, covered in multicolored paint and laughing their asses off graced the home screen, the artificial blue light cutting through the soft darkness of the room like a knife. His pupils blew wide, dilating until they seemed like two black marbles in a thin golden ring. 

His fingers waved over the screen, like he was making sure it wasn’t some kind of trick or hallucination. His jaw was slack and for once, Chihiro thought with some small satisfaction, he was speechless. She pressed it forwards and he automatically raised his hands to take it, though he didn’t seem to be operating with any conscious thought. He was simply enraptured at the little machine.

She placed it into his outstretched palm, and he held it as gently as a baby bird, cradling it as though he were afraid he might drop it. He glanced up at her and then back at the phone a few times, as if he wanted to ask her something, but couldn’t tear his eyes away long enough.

Chihiro scooted carefully to his side, and he didn’t move a muscle while she sat down beside him. She reached over and swiped upward on the screen to reveal the passcode screen. He nearly fumbled it when it responded to her touch. 

“How are you doing this?” He whispered, almost reverently, all the previous snark long vanished. “How does it work?” 

Chihiro chuckled, also a little humbled by the experience of sharing something so central to her, something that she often took for granted, with someone who couldn't even comprehend it. Her life was so amazing, and she rarely stopped to even give it a thought. It was as if she were looking at it through his eyes, at the fantastical, impossible object that seemed to bend the laws of reality. 

_ It’s almost like when I got dropped into the Spirit World.  _

She smiled at the comparison, suddenly feeling the weight of an immense, intangible connection between her and the spirit sitting next to her. Two people caught up in the other’s world. 

She giggled again, “I have no idea. Should we google it?”

It turned out that the subject of how phones worked was too complicated for a first foray into the internet, so Chihiro patiently guided him through the mechanism of the touch screen, giggling lightly when he struggled because of his long nails. The clicking of his claws on the glass reminded her of the sharp stiletto acrylics piled high with rhinestones and glitter that were popular these days. 

_ He’d sooner slice my throat than let me paint his nails.  _ She thought wistfully.

He needed surprisingly little instruction once he got the hang of it though, and once she had explained the concept of a search engine, he was off to the races. To her great amusement, the very first thing he looked up was “cat” which of course led them to countless funny videos on Youtube (though the first time he saw the moving pictures he positively screeched, much to his embarrassment). 

Still, nothing could dampen his curiosity, and before they knew it, three hours had passed and the food was all gone.

They had just discussed the nature of texting when Chihiro caught a glimpse of the clock on the upper left corner of the screen.

“Oh my god, is that the time? Hinata is going to be here any minute!” Chihiro exclaimed, rushing to collect the scattered remnants of their lunch. The tall spirit, who up until that point had been bent over the phone shoulder to shoulder with her, hopped away as if he suddenly remembered where he was, and more importantly, who he was with. 

He scowled at her, a look halfway between frustration and uncertainty pulling at his brows. He did not move to help her clean, instead opening his mouth like he was trying to work out what to say.

“You’re leaving?” He finally managed, and the tone drew Chihiro’s gaze to his face immediately. It was meant to sound dismissive, but that brittle shell of nonchalance was cracked and beneath it was an air of heartbreaking loneliness that made the young woman’s insides shrivel. He didn’t look menacing at all then, though his feral features were every bit as off-putting as they had been the very first time she’d laid eyes on them. Instead she saw someone small, and desperately in need of comfort. She nearly sat back down, was tempted to rub his back like she would a child, but something told her that the gesture would not be received well. 

“Awww, are you going to miss me? That’s so sweet!” She tried to lighten the mood, going back to the teasing dynamic they’d somehow fallen into. Her jovial attitude had the desired effect, as the spirit rose gracefully to his feet with a dignified sniff. 

“Of course not.” He chided unconvincingly. He stretched out an arm to her, her phone clasped in his calloused fingers. “I suppose you’ll be wanting this back.”

She watched the thick, corded muscle in his forearm twitch, as if he were fighting with the instinct to keep hold of the precious, exciting new treasure. Chihiro moved to take it but stopped halfway.

What was he going to do once she’d left? It must be terribly boring, sitting here all day with nothing to do. And for that matter, what had he done every day for the past however many years to occupy his time? She had so many questions, but she was too afraid to dampen his mood even further by reminding him of his imprisonment. Which she was actively contributing to.

_ Am I the real monster in this scenario?  _ She wondered briefly, before casting the thought aside. She would not let lunch and a few hours of conversation make her forget who, and what, was really standing in front of her. Spirits were not to be taken lightly, no matter how sympathetic or disarming they may seem. She’d learned that long ago.

Still, she couldn’t let him think she would skip merrily away and forget about him. Not when she fully intended on making this a regular thing. She glanced at the phone. Her guaranteed invitation back for at least one more visit. 

“Why don’t you keep it for tonight? I’m not expecting any calls or anything, I’ll pick it up tomorrow morning.” She offered as casually as she could. She watched with delight as the cat’s face almost involuntarily spasmed into a wide grin, his sharp teeth sparkling in the lamplight, before he got himself under control. He brought the little device to his chest like it was the most precious of gifts, and gave her a shallow nod. Not quite a bow, but still, Chihiro considered it another win. Now if only she could get him to stop calling her “little girl” all the time, they might be able to get off on a better foot next time...

Suddenly, Chihiro slapped her forehead with a resounding  _ thwack _ .

“Is that some sort of modern human substitute for bowing? Because if it is, I approve.” He said in dry amusement. 

“No no!” She laughed goodnaturedly, “I just remembered that we never properly introduced ourselves! My name is Chihiro. It’s a pleasure to meet you.” She bowed at the waist, her long hair spilling forward over her shoulders. 

He smirked at her, that self important arrogance that she’d come to associate with him making a full resurgence. 

“I am Kogeta Natsumemori, but you can call me Natsume,  _ Chihiro _ .”


	8. The Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Surprise. My inconsistent updates can be a good thing sometimes. Thanks be to Eliza, for your consistently great comments. And thank you to Nimbletonia and Avanariel, so glad you could join us!

Kohaku really wasn't in the mood for this. True, he wasn't in the mood for anything these days, but this was a particularly distasteful nuisance.

A heavy body swathed in clothing too fine for his wretched face slumped down the wall in front of him, clutching at his shoulder and quivering pitifully. The spirit's three bulging eyes stared up at his assailant in abject horror, realizing too late that he had made a terrible mistake in underestimating the child in front of him. Multiple burly ogres lay scattered about the room, unconscious but alive. The remnants of the merchant's paltry security. He had assumed that brute force would protect him from all threats, but he clearly had not accounted for a sorcerer of Kohaku's caliber. Nor would he need to, on a normal day. Unfortunately for him, he had pissed off the wrong people.

Red blossomed beneath his mottled grey, warty palm where it pushed against his injury, seeping into his gaudy silk vest. Kohaku himself was untouched, his short, sleek hair falling perfectly to his shoulders, his clothes unruffled.

"Master Haku, surely we can come to some kind of understanding?" The merchant offered desperately, voice shaking as the much smaller spirit approached him on noiseless feet.

_Oh, so I'm Master Haku now? I was just "some brat" before I massacred his henchmen._ Kohaku thought with dark humor. Little did the pathetic creature know that the abbreviation of the river spirit's name only served to offend him further, to remind him that though he had his name, he remained a slave, forced to carry out the will of a woman he despised more than anything. He stood before the crumpled spirit, a part of him revelling in the way he cowered before him. It felt good to feel respected, to be feared by this inferior creature. As it should have been. The kinder part of him, the part that saved little human girls, was disgusted with himself.

He fiercely suppressed these unwelcome emotions. He could not afford to _feel_ anything at the moment. He had a job to do, nothing more.

"What I need to _understand_ is why you've been dealing in counterfeits? Did you really think Yubaba was that stupid?" He asked. The merchant blanched at the infamous name. Of course, Yubaba had been operating under a pseudonym, considering the shady business she was soliciting from. She didn't want her public image being associated with the black market. But her name was a good scare tactic when things went south, everyone within a thousand miles feared the power of the witch of the bathhouse.

"I had no idea it was fake, honest! I can give you a refund. We've worked together before, you know I'm good for it!" The man insisted. Kohaku regarded him with a bored expression.

"That's not what I heard from your buddies down at the docks." Kohaku contradicted, inching forward. "They said you were bragging about pulling the wool over our eyes. Got two paydays for the price of one. It must've seemed like a good deal at the time. Maybe not so much now."

The merchant shivered at the sharp glint in his green eyes, like they were made of splinters of sea glass. There was no sympathy there, no mercy. He scrambled for words, the rim of his cap quickly becoming damp with cold sweat. Kohaku took another menacing step forward, into the merchant's space and he seized with fear.

"You-you've got to understand my situation! I know I promised it to you, but he gave me an offer I couldn't refuse. He threatened my life, and my business. What could I do?" He stuttered, trying to rock onto his feet. Kohaku thrust him back into the wall with a swift flick of his wrist. The man hung suspended above the ground, scratching at the invisible force around his throat that kept him aloft. He felt the grip around his neck tighten in tandem with the clenching of Kohaku's fist, raised so the merchant could see how effortlessly the boy could kill him, if he wished. He swung his feet uselessly in the air, drool dribbling down the corner of his purple lips as he choked for air.

"I'd say you bet on the wrong horse." Haku said in a low, threatening voice. Too threatening for any mere child. Only now did the merchant realize that he may have been wrong about that as well, too late to do anything about it.

Just as he thought that the oversight might cost him his life, the merchant was dropped unceremoniously to the ground.

"Who has the bell?" Kohaku asked flatly, his patience for the man spent.

"I don't know! I don't know!" The merchant wheezed, coughing so hard he gagged. He was visibly trembling now, too weak to try to stand again. Kohaku was unmoved, and simply raised a hand again, preparing to squeeze. All three of the merchant's eyes bugged at the gesture, and he dove into a supplicating bow.

"Please spare me Master Haku! I don't know his name! No one does! I'm not sure knowing it would do you much good anyhow. Once he's got something it's gone from the world forever." The pitiful man babbled.

Haku glowered at him, loathing the slimy man for getting him into this mess. He had to get that bell, Yubaba would never help him find his river if he didn't. "Are you sure he won't part with it for any price? I don't have to remind you who my employer is, you'll be hearing from her again soon enough."

The man gave a quiet whine of pure terror. He would have to disappear to the far corners of the earth to escape the wrath of Yubaba, and even then he might still not be safe. He felt the seconds of his life begin to tick away knowing he wasn't long for this world. He would almost prefer to die now.

"He does not sell his trophies. He collects them."

Kohaku's heart sank. This was only the beginning.

* * *

"Uh-huh, I hear what you're saying," Amaya nodded sagely, "but why the fuck not?"

"He's...temperamental. He barely tolerates me, let alone a total stranger. No offense Amaya, but you can be a bit, uh, extra." Chihiro responded with an apologetic smile. Amaya made a show of flipping her hair over her shoulder, though the effect was somewhat ruined by the fact that all of it was piled up in a bun on the top of her head.

"Extra just means there's more to share." She insisted with a cheeky grin. Chihiro laughed.

"You'll meet him eventually." Chihiro promised, "Just let me get a chance to work him around to the idea. He appreciated the sake, that's a start."

"Did he? At least he's got good taste." Her best friend said in delight. "In that case, you should bring him this!"

Amaya produced a bottle of peach schnapps from the cupboard. She placed it in Chihiro's hands. "And this," a six pack of soda, "and this," a party pack of chips, "and this!" An absurdly large, three pound bar of chocolate. "Wait, you said he's a cat, can he eat chocolate? I don't want to poison him."

Chihiro struggled under the weight of the load in her arms, looking dubiously at her friend over the growing mountain of food. "Don't you think this is a little much? I'm going to see him again tomorrow."

"Nonsense! The poor dear's been deprived for who knows how long! It's a travesty to think there's any person in this world who has never tasted the absolute majesty that is junk food. Think of it as my contribution to his education."

Chihiro simply sighed indulgently, and helped Amaya pack a bag full of snacks. There was no stopping the colorful young woman when she got like this. She was not looking forward to schlepping the heavy thing up the mountain, but she would be lying if she said she didn't feel some of Amaya's excitement. She was still swimming in giddiness after meeting a spirit after all this time, every interaction with him felt like dipping her toes into the other world.

_Maybe we can even be friends._ A little part of her thought, thrilled at the shaky possibility. He was rough around the edges, even scary, but Chihiro thought she might have caught the tiniest glimpse of the intriguing person hidden beneath the callous exterior.

"Alright, I'm off. I'll see you tonight!" She called at the door, adjusting the various straps on her shoulders, trying to find a comfortable enough way to carry the backpack. The bus would only take her as far as the base of the mountain, she was in for a long hike after that.

"Wait!" Amaya stopped her with a gentle hand on her shoulder. Her usually vibrant face was turned into an uncertain frown, worrying her bottom lip with her teeth and staining them with green lipstick.

"I wasn't going to say anything, but I thought you should know your mom called me last night. She sounded worried about you."

Chihiro's mood soured, thinking bitterly about how she'd left her parents last. It had burned a painful hole in her memory, and she cringed when she thought about it. They had hurt her deeply with their harsh dismissal of her feelings.

_You were no better_. A quiet voice scorned, but she pushed it aside. She wasn't ready to confront this yet, not now that she remembered everything she'd been through. Everything they wouldn't believe even if she told them. They would brush her off, like they always did. Amaya instantly recognized the dark turn in her expression, and crushed her into a tight bear hug.

"I love having you here, you know I do, but I think you should see them." She said into her hair, rubbing her arm comfortingly. Chihiro relaxed into it, but said nothing. She didn't want to see them.

Amaya pulled away, her face uncharacteristically forlorn and far away. "They love you, you know. I can tell. I would kill for that. I ruined my relationship with my family, and I regret it every day. I don't want to see you make the same mistake. Talk to them."

Chihiro thought about the other night when Amaya had drunkenly wept about how she wouldn't have anyone to walk her down the aisle, about how her children would never know their grandparents. Few people knew it, because she rarely let it show, but she would cry herself to sleep sometimes, wishing she had done things differently.

Chihiro sighed. "I will. I promise." She finally acquiesced, "Just...not yet."

Amaya nodded in understanding and let her go, dabbing at the corner of her eye before the single tear that pooled there had a chance to fall.

"Okay, now go and make friends with Grumpy Cat."

"Don't call him that, he knows what it is now."

"Even better."

By the time she'd collapsed, gasping and sweating, onto the veranda of the _honden,_ she was half an hour late.

_I don't care how well intentioned she is, next time I see Amaya, I'll kill her._ She thought as she shucked off the straps of the two ton backpack. True, she could have sucked it up and walked along the meandering mountain road to get here, the incline would have been less intense, but no, she had to be stubborn and take the shortcut through the trail. The shortcut stopped being so short when she'd realized about halfway up that her arms and legs were noodles.

"You'd better appreciate this." She mumbled halfheartedly towards the door of the inner sanctuary.

"I always appreciate finding you on the brink of death. Lucky for me, it seems to be happening _every goddamn day_ now _._ " A voice said from directly above her.

Chihiro shrieked and launched into the air, clutching at her chest. Hinata stood casually above her, dressed in a frilly pink pinafore and thigh high socks with little cats on the front, looking like she just stepped out of an anime.

"Hinata! What are you doing here? You scared the crap out of me!" Chihiro gasped around the thudding pulse in her throat, her nerves shot. Hinata regarded her coolly, blowing a bubble in the gum she was chewing.

"I wouldn't have had to come if you'd actually answered my calls. Still, it would have been better if you'd let them go to voicemail instead of breathing into the speaker like a creep before hanging up on me mid-sentence. What, are you trying to prank me or something?"

Chihiro cringed, thinking of the only person that could have been. He was probably sitting on the other side of the wall listening to this conversation right now. At least he hadn't answered it properly, or Hinata might've reported a stolen phone to the police.

"Must've been sitting on it or something, sorry." She covered, unconvincingly she thought, but Hinata wasn't the type to question. Or rather, it was more accurate to say that she didn't care enough to question. "Anyway, what did you need to tell me?"

Hinata huffed and tossed her perfectly curled hair, adjusting the large white bow adorning it at a perfectly imperfect angle. "I'm not going to be around for the next few days. There's been some interest in the design for my oceanic oil-water filtration pump so I'm going into Tokyo to meet with a few potential sponsors."

Chihiro blinked owlishly at her like she'd just been spoken in Swahili. "Your _what?_ "

For once, Hinata looked excited about something she was talking about, and Chihiro saw a genuine smile expose a hitherto unknown dimple in her chin. "It's a system I engineered that can either function as an independent, self sustaining unit, or be adapted to a motor. It sucks in oil from the ocean and pushes it through a filter that spits out clean water on the other side. When it's adapted to a ship's engine, it can convert the oil gathered into a supplemental fuel source that the ship can use to run on." The young woman explained to her gaping boss, though the title hardly seemed fitting after what she'd just learned.

Chihiro regarded the girl in a new light. She was what, sixteen or seventeen years old? And to think she was already developing these incredible technologies. Now that she thought about it, Chihiro did recall her assistant mentioning that she went to some fancy private school, but she had always just assumed that her parents were loaded. And, though she was ashamed to admit it, Chihiro had not expected the aggressively cute girl to gravitate towards something so, well, academic. But apparently she was some prodigious genius. She chastised herself internally, should know better than anyone how appearances can be deceiving.

"Wow Hinata, that is so amazing! I had no idea you were interested in science, let alone working on such a great project. It's really, _really_ impressive and I'm honestly super excited for you. You have to tell me how it goes when you get back!" Chihiro gushed, watching as an unexpected blush tinted the young woman's cheeks. She looked away with a scowl, trying to hide it, but Chihiro couldn't help but think the whole thing made her more endearing.

"Shut up, it's not that interesting." She mumbled reticently. "Anyway, are you gonna be okay all by yourself here? I don't know when Ito-sama is coming back and he told me to stay with you as much as I could…"

"I'll be fine, what you're doing is way more important than sweeping some stone steps." Chihiro reassured her. Hinata nodded hesitantly, and gave Chihiro a microscopic grin, before grabbing the bike that was leaning against one of the sturdy oak posts. Chihiro smiled back, feeling like she'd made some progress with the usually insufferable teenager.

_Maybe I totally misjudged her before..._

"Do yourself a favor Chihiro and get yourself an electric bike or something. You look like you're about to keel over any second. Oh wait, that's all the time. My mistake." Hinata quipped as she pushed off towards the mountain road.

_Never mind._

Chihiro watched her go. As she pedaled out of sight, Chihiro was made suddenly aware of the silence that had draped over the shrine complex. Ito-sama and Kouji were off in Tokyo, Hinata would join them there tomorrow. There had been no patrons in the last few days either, save for a few elderly folk who still believed in the old ways.

No wind rustled the rust tipped leaves, no animals bustled in the thick underbrush that inched toward the carefully maintained courtyard. The peeling red paint of ancient wood pillars supported swooping grey eves like the wings of a crane about to take flight. It was as if the world had taken a snapshot of a single, timeless moment. Chihiro breathed it in, committing it to memory.

The sharp snap of a branch, as loud as gunfire, interrupted the serene quiet. Chihiro whipped her head to the edge of the forest, eyes peering into the wall of darkness cast by the canopy of branches high above. Nothing moved, save for the slightest ripple of sunlight shifting through foliage. But instead of feeling relieved, a sinking wariness settled into the hollow of her chest. She kept searching the patch of shadow with needless anxiety. She didn't know what she was looking for, but the hair on her neck prickled, like the trees themselves were looking back.

"Chihiro, what the hell are you putzing around outside for? You coming in or what?" A sudden, familiar voice called from the depths of the inner sanctuary. Her heart fluttered with excitement as she was invited in, saved from worrying about whether or not she'd be welcome, and she eagerly turned to join her new, maybe-almost-friend with her monstrous backpack in tow.

"Yeah, yeah, I know you just want me for my booze." She answered with a laugh, only just barely strained with worry.

But even as she closed the doors separating her slice of the spirit world from the outside, she could still feel the unseen eyes watching. Waiting.


End file.
